Comments on: Airfare increases? What airfare increases?

By: tripso.com | This might be the end of the runway for airfare increases

tripso.com | This might be the end of the runway for airfare increases — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 13:59:02 +0000

[...] let’s put the price increases into perspective. Adjusting for inflation, airfares are still about the same price — and in some markets less — than they were a decade [...]

By: Bill Rowell

Bill Rowell — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 05:16:53 +0000

No, my airfare of $81 for a next day purchase on Northwest from Atlanta to Buffalo was not bad at all…. The $180 in overweight and excess baggage was “Interesting”. Getting stuck in Detroit and being told my bags had gone on to Buffalo was “Annoying”. Finally arriving in Buffalo to see that one of my bags flew with me…..and the other was STILL in Detroit? “Priceless”.

By: SirWired

SirWired — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:06:44 +0000

Chris,

If your numbers aren’t recent enough to include the latest round of fare increases, and don’t include all sorts of mandatory ever-rising fees, shouldn’t you maybe change the first paragraph from the current text, which states everybody complaining about fare increases is “wrong”? That seems like a pretty strong statement…

SirWired

By: Saturday Links #3 at Dan Webb

Saturday Links #3 at Dan Webb — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 04:21:09 +0000

[...] Chris Elliott points out that when inflation is considered in fare data, the recent airfare increases don’t seem all that bad. [...]

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:10:50 +0000

Jason: Then watch the fares DROP as the date comes closer. Quoted 2 tix for my summer vacation @ 800+, checked back and saw it was now 900+, locked in the plans and ended up paying about 1000. Checked back 1 month before the trip – dropped clear down to 600+. Coulda gone for a credit but change fees and other charges woulda probably ate up that credit I was due… not to mention being subject to the latest surcharges etc. Just can’t win!¡!

By: Christopher Elliott

Christopher Elliott — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:25:03 +0000

I agree. But a lot of the new fees weren’t introduced until the second quarter. I hope the government figures out a way to incorporate those in future numbers — but somehow, I doubt it.

By: Jasper

Jasper — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:52:13 +0000

Chris, Chris. Have you suddenly forgotten about all the fees and surcharges? Please throw those in too. This graph is just in line with what airline propaganda wants us to believe. But I know that on top of my $300 ticket, I am paying 2x$15 of luggage fees, several 9/11 fees, a number of suel surcharges, etc etc.

Factor those in and tadaaa! Massive price increase.

You say: but fees and surcharges vary from airline to airline. True. But that’s exactly what they want to accomplish with all that “unbundling” of fees and surcharges. Total mist in priceland. In the mean time, they can keep making graphs like this and convince lawmakers (who never pay for tickets themselves) that they are hurting because they can not increase price levels.

By: SirWired

SirWired — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:59:13 +0000

Does whatever source you checked include fees and surcharges? I’m not talking about the checked-luggage stuff, but rather the “fuel fees”. I know that some fees do not appear in the actual “fare” with some airlines even though there is no way to get out of paying them.

To me, it doesn’t matter if the airline wants to charge a $1 “fare” and a $249 “fuel fee” for a $250 flight, it’s still a $250 flight.

SirWired

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:57:18 +0000

Should have added that I’ve been using the wonderful site Yapta to do my tracking.

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:56:38 +0000

I don’t watch airfares often, but I was recently purchasing tickets to Hawaii for March of next year and in the course of 6 weeks of watching fares on Delta and United (about the only 1-stop options I had) the fairs went up from $939 to $1329 where I finally pulled the trigger. They have held steady there for a few weeks now.