Why are airfares so high?

My gut feeling is that it's too early to buy tickets for June. I think the airlines will have to put flights on sale to fill the planes. In June 2009 I paid $800 to fly open jaw from NYC to/from Spain/Paris.

The airlines have reduced capacity over the last year or so, while demand has held up pretty well. Less seats plus same number of (or more) travellers equals higher prices.

Dina, where are your niece and brother flying from in the US? There's a big price difference flying from NYC to Paris, and flying from the West Coast to Paris.

Yes, it would be helpful to know departure city and dates. I just looked quickly at a June 14 to June 28 roundtrip and found Chicago-Paris for $1044 on Aer Lingus. I also just found Seattle-Paris for $1143 and New York-Paris $843 for the same dates on Icelandair.

There have been many articles in travel magazines, newspapers, etc. reporting that airline ticket are much higher all around. Capacities have been greatly reduced, mergers have reduced numbers of flights and competition is down, etc. All add up to less pressure to reduce fees. You are also looking a peak travel time in June. I doubt if you will see sub $1000 fares or much below $1200. ,,,,few flights for $700 in the dead of winter, but who wants to come then?........ DAH !!! That is why the fare was $700. And when does everyone want to come? June ?? July ??

I agree that it seems early to be shopping for flights for June. Start watching the flights you are interested in so that you get a feel for what the prices are running, and be ready to pounce quickly if you find a good deal along the way. You might consider looking for a special deal to a different gateway, pairing it with budget flights to and from the final destination. For example, I wanted to go to Spain but could never find what I considered a good price. I did, however, find an exceptional round trip deal to London. I grabbed that, then booked a Ryanair flight to my final destination in Spain. I actually ended up arriving closer to where my friend lived, and saved roughly $600 on the flights. I then took Easyjet back to London for my return flight. Each budget flight was around $40 at the time.

Just out of curiosity, Dina, what level of fare were you expecting or hoping for?

Frank - We're both looking for sub-$800 fares. Many months ago, when we first presented the idea of getting a ticket for my niece, that fare was possible. That's why I was surprised it's so much higher now. Guess I'll just keep checking periodically and pounce when I find something in my price range.

I did some research and found what Carroll had been saying - airline mergers/aquisitions means fewer competition. I'm afraid high prices might be here to stay. My brother is coming from the West Coast, which almost certainly means a higher price than from NYC. He's been all over Europe, so flying in to a different city, etc. would work for him (albeit he's a bit lazy to research those options!) My niece would be flying from a larger midwest city. She has never flown before, so we really need to be careful about # of connections, etc. That trip won't happen unless airfare really comes down, though. Heck, we're not going to get many visitors at all unless air fares come down.

Capacity is definitely down. Airlines started cutting back a couple of years ago, and now demand is up, but they haven't increased the number of flights or size of planes. We see a lot of this flying standby. It's gotten almost impossible to fly domestic standby anymore. The NY Times actually had an article on this recently. They're predicting that flights will go up even more this summer. Even Ryanair's raising their fares.

In addition to the reduced competition the airlines have made millions of dollars from all of those stupid iodiotic "fees" they charge now...premium seats, checked bags, $5 pretzels, etc. Airlines are not hurting for money right now...but I assure you that when they DO start hurting for money we, the taxpayers, will start hearing the sob stories again about how they need to be bailed out with our tax dollars!

Hello Dina,
If it is any consolation to you, some people who acquire an American Airlines Citi Bank American Express credit card can receive credit for 10,000 Miles in American Airlines' frequent flyer program (AAdvantage). I think 30,000 miles is sufficient for getting free flights from the United States of America to Paris and from Paris, for travel before May 15. There might be a discount price for American airlines tickets at less than 30,000 miles.

The price of oil has risen about 20% in the past couple of months. The airlines greatest cost is fuel.

Hi, Dina,
Here's a recent article from the New York Times that explains why airfares are going to be high for the forseeable future. "Sticker Shock for Travelers as Airfares Climb": http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/09/business/global/09fares.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=airfares&st=nyt

Sadly, I think this is a trend. Today's paper had an item saying that the past quarter was the most profitable one for airlines in years. Having reduced demand and laid off employees, they really have no incentive to reduce prices. In real dollars, airfares have been incredibly cheap in recent years. Unless there are new entrants into the business and a fare war breaks out, I would expect air fares to continue to climb until planes aren't flying full.

You are unrealistic. The probability of a sub 800 fare in June to France is very low. I think the probability of sub $1000 is not much higher. The other factor is the declining dollar. It makes airfare to the US much cheaper and the airlines does not care of the RT tickets starts in Paris or LA. The seat is full either way. If the 2 or 300 $s is critical then there are other ways to save that amount elsewhere in the travel budget.

Frank - A few months ago, there were $800 fares available in June. Maybe it was a one-day sale when I looked, but they were there. We weren't able to purchase a ticket at that time, and I never imagined they would go up so high so fast. And the ticket is the whole travel budget. We live in France and are looking for people to come visit us. Can't save an extra couple hundred dollars elsewhere when there's little extra expense.

Dina, just a thought, there's a French charter (not sure if that's the right term) airline called Corsair and I believe their website is corsairfly.com... you may want to check them out. We flew Corsair in 2001 from SF to Paris (their route is Paris - SF - Tahiti, or at least it was in 2001) and were happy with them. Corsair is a subsidiary of Nouvelle Frontieres.

I think in order to get a good fare, one has to be both flexible and attentive. We're flying Seattle - Paris for $650 a ticket next March, which I booked after getting a kayak alert just before midnight. I had been checking fares nearly every day for a few months and jumped when I saw that one. Ended up buying the tickets quite early by most people's standards, but that's when the good price popped up, so while it might be too early for the sale prices, it's not too early to be watching for them.

Lets be realistic and not create false hope. There is a big difference in timing between March and June. June is her biggest hurdle. If flying in Feb/March or Oct/Nov then sub $1000 fares might be a good possibility.

I've seen some fares in early June (in just the last few days) just under $1000 (to Switzerland). farecompare.com has some articles to help with when to shop etc It does help to fly Tues or Wed and book on Tuesdays afternoons or Wednesdays, too. When I was looking (mostly on Kayak), the fares varied from hour to hour or more frequently. I'm still waiting awhile to buy, but now know that if I get under $1000, I'll be doing well.