Why is travel so expensive over here?

[JamalNTam 1]

Since my family left I've had an overwhelming sense of feeling trapped over here! ... I wish I could understand why it is SO expensive to fly domestically within the US and out of the US. How is it that there are companies in Europe that can fly to other countries for less than $10, yet you can't fly to another state for less than $100? How is it possible that a 7 night, all inclusive trip in a 5* resort to Mexico (including airfare) is cheaper from England than it is from Phoenix?!! Why is it that a flight from London to Dallas is over $300 cheaper than Dallas to London on the same dates???? What reasons can there be that a bus trip from London to Poland (27 hours) is $25 yet a Greyhound from Philadelphia to NewYork (2 hours) is over $70? I miss being able to travel .. I miss home so much!!

[ScottThuy 140]

Regulations and the fees that the US airports charge the airlines... the airlines must pay to use the airport and land the planes..

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Depends on where you live, where you're going and when, I guess. We took a trip from FL to TN back in September and paid under $80.00 r/t for the airfare per person. We had a King Suite at the Radisson in Music City for $65.00/night - full service breakfast for all three of us included. Paid $170.00 for a full size rental car for a week. All in all, we had a very nice week out of town and spent less than $900.00 on airfare, car rental and lodging - for a family of three. Not sure how much cheaper it can get.

[NickD 203]

wife is looking at rates for a round trip from Bogota to Caracas, $760.00 her per person here, $800.00 in Caracas, and $400.00 in Bogota, using the same exact airline and airports. Go figure. But we will have to pay an extra 150 bucks to leave Carascas no matter where we buy those tickets. It's 657 miles, driving is out, too many bandits and toll ways, plus would take about 33 hours of constant driving one way and may even run into a landslide. Just a couple of years ago, tickets were 200 bucks per person for that same exact trip and no airport tax at Caracas.

[Krikit 1,165]

Depends who you fly with and whether you watch for sales. Same as the UK.

[payxibka 10,047]

Regulations and the fees that the US airports charge the airlines... the airlines must pay to use the airport and land the planes..

Airlines also pay user based fees when landing at non-US airports. For example, when flying over Canada, an airline gets charged a direct billed fee for using air traffic control... something we don't see here in the US

Edited December 31, 2009 by payxibka

[slim 1,533]

Welcome to the U.S.!

You're also going to love our health care system. It's overpriced for the same reason our travel system is. - For the good of everyone!

[Ladylethal 12]

Flying in Brasil used to be a lot more expensive than in the US, comparatively, but now the airlines there have brought their prices down by a lot. Depending on where and when you can get very cheap fares but overall travel is still expensive if using regular prices.

Flying from PR to the US is crazy expensive too, imo.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Talking about expensive travel: We're flying to Addis Ababa next Spring.

R/T fare for each adult is $700.00, for the child it's $525.00.

Expensive? I think not.

[Angel and Gendy 1]

corporate bonuses

[panamania79 2]

Welcome to the U.S.!

You're also going to love our health care system. It's overpriced for the same reason our travel system is. - For the good of everyone!

[JamalNTam 1]

Talking about expensive travel: We're flying to Addis Ababa next Spring.

R/T fare for each adult is $700.00, for the child it's $525.00.

I would love to know how you got those prices ... I can't even find anything that cheap for going to London (from Dallas)

Welcome to the U.S.!

You're also going to love our health care system. It's overpriced for the same reason our travel system is. - For the good of everyone!

.... don't get me started on the healthcare system over here

Edited December 31, 2009 by JamalNTam

[EasternDE 35]

Don't forget that US dollar exchange rate is extremely low right now...

[JamalNTam 1]

Depends on where you live, where you're going and when, I guess. We took a trip from FL to TN back in September and paid under $80.00 r/t for the airfare per person. We had a King Suite at the Radisson in Music City for $65.00/night - full service breakfast for all three of us included. Paid $170.00 for a full size rental car for a week. All in all, we had a very nice week out of town and spent less than $900.00 on airfare, car rental and lodging - for a family of three. Not sure how much cheaper it can get.

See, to me that is still expensive .. My husband and I spent a week touring Italy and it cost us less than $400 (it was around £175) for both of us, flights from the UK, hotels and train fares around the country!

Edited December 31, 2009 by JamalNTam

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Talking about expensive travel: We're flying to Addis Ababa next Spring.

R/T fare for each adult is $700.00, for the child it's $525.00.

I would love to know how you got those prices ... I can't even find anything that cheap for going to London (from Dallas)

We got the fare via a travel agency that specializes in US / Africa travel. My wife's cousin bought a ticket from that agency and gave us the contact info since we were planning a trip as well. Usually, you'd be looking at $1,200.00 - 1,600.00 for an adult r/t fare to go to Addis Ababa so this really makes the trip a heck of a lot cheaper - savings of about $2K.

I can't even find anything that cheap for going to London (from Dallas)

$725.60 r/t with Continental. This search engine rocks: http://matrix.itasoftware.com/cvg/dispatch

Depart Feb 2, 2010 / Return Feb 17,2010

2 Adults (age 18 to 64) $1,104.00

Additional Taxes/Fees $347.20

Total Price $1,451.20