article on price differences in R/T tickets

It will be helpful if you can provide a link to the article -- thanks.

Nothing new about this practice. The airlines have been doing it for years and years on many international routes from many countries. Just about everywhere you fly on an Australia - Overseas - Australia ticket is more expensive than on an Overseas - Australia - Overseas ticket (with the exception, most of the time, of the United States). It is all about demand and what markets will pay.

southam, I read it in hard copy newspaper format (yes, I am old-fashioned) so I can't provide link.

I was aware of anecdotal reports of the pricing difference , but I think the main point of interest was the size of the price difference - 30-50% which is pretty dramatic. What the article pointed out regarding supply and demand, is that there should be roughly the same number of seats sold going either way, since people usually go back to where they came from. So, that may not be a factor.

Stan,

if you fly, the next time, look at all of the taxes added to the ticket. Toss them out and everyone could afford to go someplace.

happy trails

Here's the link: http://www.wsj.com/articles/airline-fare-riddle-one-route-two-prices-1420676518

I'm not sure how using planners could help take advantage of this difference. It's not very likely that it will switch the other direction.

I've been wondering for years why it's cheaper to fly RT Europe-USA than the other way around. When my German friend comes to the US, he sends me his ticket itinerary and the price is always less than $1,000, no matter what time of year or where he's flying into or out of. I haven't heard a satisfactory explanation as to why this is. Why don't airlines gouge Europe-based travelers the way they gouge those leaving from North America? There's more money to be made, certainly. Are taxes higher on American tickets than tickets purchased in European countries? That doesn't necessarily make sense either.

And allow me to complain about something else for just a second - why are airlines allowed to sell a seat more than once on the same flight? Every flight I take nowadays is oversold and the employees at the gate ask if anyone would like to take a later flight. How can it be legal to sell the same product to two different people? If any other business tried that, they'd be boycotted by irate consumers and shut down by the government.