Domestic flight price sticker shock :(

[KDOG]

Yikes. As some of you know, I've been looking at visiting out west from Jersey here to the Yellowstone Nat Park area and possibly Grand Teton area based on some of the great advice here. So I went on the various flight price sites like Kayak, Priceline etc.... Ugh. What happened to the cheap flight prices lol? Cheapest I saw flying from either Philly or AC into Jackson WY, (seems to be the closest airport) was basically $1000 with 2 layovers for 2 people flying economy. Ugh. Might as well drive and make a cross country road trip out of it. Am I missing something? I could've swore flight weren't that much.

 

[Anubis]

nope not missing anything

the only cheap flights are regional ones

 

[JManInPhoenix]

Sounds about right - when I travel from Phoenix to the east it generally runs me $400-$600 roundtrip depending on the exact destination.

 

[mnewsham]

Sounds normal to me....

 

[jaedaliu]

$300 RT from Boston to LA, but if I fly to smaller airports in between, it's $450 and up.

 

[Genx87]

Yikes. As some of you know, I've been looking at visiting out west from Jersey here to the Yellowstone Nat Park area and possibly Grand Teton area based on some of the great advice here. So I went on the various flight price sites like Kayak, Priceline etc.... Ugh. What happened to the cheap flight prices lol? Cheapest I saw flying from either Philly or AC into Jackson WY, (seems to be the closest airport) was basically $1000 with 2 layovers for 2 people flying economy. Ugh. Might as well drive and make a cross country road trip out of it. Am I missing something? I could've swore flight weren't that much.

Same price as about 20 years ago when we went out there in the winter. MSP to Jackson Hole was about 900 bucks per person. We drove it instead. I have never been back since.

 

[gorcorps]

Did you check southwest? IIRC southwest doesn't allow pricing or sales through anybody except their own site, so you won't see them through sites like Priceline. They're often the cheapest option for me and you won't know unless you go to southwest's site specifically.

 

[Genx87]

I havent found Southwest to be competitive out of MSP. I am shocked to see the routes I fly typically cost as much on Southwest as they do on Delta(MSP's hub carrier). I typically fly Sun Country because of price. Big disappointment for me. When Southwest announced they were starting service in MSP. I was looking forward to cheaper fares.

 

[KDOG]

Ok I just checked Southwest. Closest airport out there they show is Boise, ID from Philly and its about $570 - each way.

 

[Insomniator]

Paid $900 for 2 roundtrip tickets from jersey --> california on MDW -- booked 2 months in advance though. We got lucky and got the last seats that didn't require a layover.

 

[xanis]

Try Frontier out of Trenton-Mercer. I'm currently shopping for PHL -> ATL flights and that combo is A LOT cheaper ($100+) than anything out of PHL.

EDIT: Idaho Falls (IDA) looks to be cheaper. Just found a roundtrip from PHL to IDA for $480 with a few others in the ~$600 range.

 

[rh71]

Unless you've got a whole family of people to pay airfare for, I don't think it's worth a road trip to save money. Not only do you waste vaca days on the road but you're too tired to do anything when you're there.

 

[IronWing]

Don't fly into Jackson. Try SLC and drive from there.


Edit: Nevermind, rates went up there as well. Salt Lake used to be cheap.

 

[mmntech]

Is that price round trip for two people? That's cheap.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

did you try midweek dates?

 

[Exterous]

OP - welcome to the results of years of capacity cuts + mergers + higher demand for seats. The airlines took a big hit in 2008 and 2009 with drastically lower than expected fliers. They have been cutting routes and frequency since then. In 2014 it looks like there will be the highest demand for seats since 2007 but with fewer planes in the air. I don't think you'll see many cheap tickets for the next few years unless something drastic happens (like allowing forgein airlines to fly domestic routes). This is the first time in a while the legacies have talked about increasing capacity and even then they usually talk about under a 2% increase

I havent found Southwest to be competitive out of MSP. I am shocked to see the routes I fly typically cost as much on Southwest as they do on Delta(MSP's hub carrier). I typically fly Sun Country because of price. Big disappointment for me. When Southwest announced they were starting service in MSP. I was looking forward to cheaper fares.

Since their fuel hedges expired their prices have quickly become more in line with the legacy carriers but the 'low cost ticket' image has stayed with them from that heyday in 2008-2010.

 

[SunnyD]

HSV == The most expensive airport in the USA.

I'm not joking. Look it up.

 

[slag]

On Thursday, May 1st, I booked two one way flights from KCI to Dallas Love field leaving on Saturday, May 3rd. Non stop flights were $241 apiece each way. I was able to secure two tickets with a 1 hour stop in Houston for $317 total. We left at 6 am instead of 8, and had a 1 hour layover in Houston which was just enough time to freshen up and eat breakfast. It worked out perfectly and we drove my truck back to KC. I consider these to be cheap tickets and was able to secure them through priceline very close to departure date. Cheap tickets are still out there for many destinations.

On a side note, what would happen if we didn't board the flight in Houston to Dallas? Is there some rule or law against that, or would everything just be fine? Curious if there is a tool out there to search for flights that have layovers in your destination city as a layover instead of as a destination which could prove to be a cheaper flight.

 

[Xonim]

I havent found Southwest to be competitive out of MSP. I am shocked to see the routes I fly typically cost as much on Southwest as they do on Delta(MSP's hub carrier). I typically fly Sun Country because of price. Big disappointment for me. When Southwest announced they were starting service in MSP. I was looking forward to cheaper fares.

That's surprising to me ... I fly Southwest out of MSP all the time because it's been consistently cheaper, and that's even before factoring in checked bag fees and what not for Delta.

That being said, it could be on a per-route basis. My in-laws live in Jacksonville, FL .... on Southwest we can do that for $280 RT per person, while the cheapest Delta/AA/United is usually around $350. Considering we also usually have 1 checked bag, that'd be another $25 or whatever they're up to now.

They used to be very similar in price, but the Delta MSP-JAX flight was a nonstop, so we tended to pay $5-10/ticket more for it. As of a couple years ago, there's now usually a $50-75 difference per ticket for that route.

 

[BikeJunkie]

I'm headed to Moab in two weeks and went through the same thing. I managed to score a round trip for $600, but most were > $1000. Oh, and I'm not actually flying to Moab. Flying into Grand Junction CO and then driving two hours to Moab.

 

[SP33Demon]

Flying will only be for the rich soon.

 

[Exterous]

On a side note, what would happen if we didn't board the flight in Houston to Dallas? Is there some rule or law against that, or would everything just be fine? Curious if there is a tool out there to search for flights that have layovers in your destination city as a layover instead of as a destination which could prove to be a cheaper flight.

It violates their rules of carriage or some such and is called 'Hidden city ticketing'. There could be any number of legitimate reasons you could have missed the connecting flight so the airlines don't generally do anything unless you make a habit of it. IIRC there are some people who consistently did this that got their frequent flier accounts banned and miles confiscated but I haven't heard of any fines being levied or anything

 

[gorcorps]

On Thursday, May 1st, I booked two one way flights from KCI to Dallas Love field leaving on Saturday, May 3rd. Non stop flights were $241 apiece each way. I was able to secure two tickets with a 1 hour stop in Houston for $317 total. We left at 6 am instead of 8, and had a 1 hour layover in Houston which was just enough time to freshen up and eat breakfast. It worked out perfectly and we drove my truck back to KC. I consider these to be cheap tickets and was able to secure them through priceline very close to departure date. Cheap tickets are still out there for many destinations.

On a side note, what would happen if we didn't board the flight in Houston to Dallas? Is there some rule or law against that, or would everything just be fine? Curious if there is a tool out there to search for flights that have layovers in your destination city as a layover instead of as a destination which could prove to be a cheaper flight.

People miss flights so it's usually not a big deal, but if you do it intentially it's called "hidden-city ticketing" and is usually against the agreement you get signed up for when you purchase a ticket. According to the agreement the airlines could ban you from future flights if you do it often, but there doesn't seem to be much risk.

 

[Genx87]

That's surprising to me ... I fly Southwest out of MSP all the time because it's been consistently cheaper, and that's even before factoring in checked bag fees and what not for Delta.

That being said, it could be on a per-route basis. My in-laws live in Jacksonville, FL .... on Southwest we can do that for $280 RT per person, while the cheapest Delta/AA/United is usually around $350. Considering we also usually have 1 checked bag, that'd be another $25 or whatever they're up to now.

They used to be very similar in price, but the Delta MSP-JAX flight was a nonstop, so we tended to pay $5-10/ticket more for it. As of a couple years ago, there's now usually a $50-75 difference per ticket for that route.

I primarily fly to Dallas a few times a year. And Ft Myers maybe once. I would think Dallas would be cheap but usually it is as much as Delta and I need a stop somewhere along the way. Sun Country I can get down there non-stop round trip into DFW for 206 on sale. Sales happens about once a month. I did fly Southwest to Milwaukee in the fall. I was shocked when the return flight had 3 people on it.

 

[Ns1]

Since their fuel hedges expired their prices have quickly become more in line with the legacy carriers but the 'low cost ticket' image has stayed with them from that heyday in 2008-2010.

That explains a lot.