Most expensive economy flight / cost per mile
May 12, 2003, 6:34 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Kailua Kona, HI
Posts: 153
Most expensive economy flight / cost per mile
Given the sad state of the airline industry and the fact that traffic levels are still low, I'm continually amazed how airlines fail to grasp the basic facts of economics. Thus rather than reduce fares to attract custom they increase them in a vain attempt to make up for lost revenue.
A case in point. I commute from SFO to SBA (Santa Barbara) weekly on a United flight operated by Sky West. The distance flown is 262 miles (524 miles for the round trip).
The cost has increased by 25% in the last month or so and is now $572.5 !!. This is for economy class.
By my calculation this works out to a staggering $1.09 per mile !.
I'm interested if anybody can beat this for an economy fare ?.
A case in point. I commute from SFO to SBA (Santa Barbara) weekly on a United flight operated by Sky West. The distance flown is 262 miles (524 miles for the round trip).
The cost has increased by 25% in the last month or so and is now $572.5 !!. This is for economy class.
By my calculation this works out to a staggering $1.09 per mile !.
I'm interested if anybody can beat this for an economy fare ?.
May 12, 2003, 6:37 pm
#2
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Chicago, IL and Hong Kong - United 1K Since 2000
Posts: 4,344
The point is, I really don't think many people will buy such short distances... at least not as a single r/t. Not even businesses.
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When once you have experienced being a 1K, you will forever fly the friendly skies with your eyes set on 100% mileage bonus and SWUs, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return, every year!
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When once you have experienced being a 1K, you will forever fly the friendly skies with your eyes set on 100% mileage bonus and SWUs, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return, every year!
May 13, 2003, 9:34 am
#3
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: NorCal - 1K 2MM
Posts: 2,090
This is a game played here periodically, and it's pretty easy to top each horror story with another, if you're familiar with the odd tail ends on UA. TUS-PHX on UA (mainline, by the way, not even UAX, which tends to be more expensive per mile) is 110 miles and about $245 one way in B, $200 one way even in M class, or roughly twice the cost per mile of your already outrageous result.
May 13, 2003, 9:40 am
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Seattle, WA, USA
Programs: Bar Alliance Gold
Posts: 16,271
It's all about time.
While LAX and SBA are close "as the crow flies", the crow is not snarled in I-5/I-405 traffic (still amazes me it takes seven hours to drive SFO-LAX). So if you don't want to shoot an entire day driving to and from your destination, you can fly... Just have to pay the piper.
As an aside, how many folks fly LAX-SBA outside of weekend leisure travel? I imagine weekday loads would be similarly pitiable if they charged $50 instead of $500, so they probably charge an arm-and-a-leg to cover the costs of providing the service during the week.
[This message has been edited by SEA_Tigger (edited 05-13-2003).]
While LAX and SBA are close "as the crow flies", the crow is not snarled in I-5/I-405 traffic (still amazes me it takes seven hours to drive SFO-LAX). So if you don't want to shoot an entire day driving to and from your destination, you can fly... Just have to pay the piper.
As an aside, how many folks fly LAX-SBA outside of weekend leisure travel? I imagine weekday loads would be similarly pitiable if they charged $50 instead of $500, so they probably charge an arm-and-a-leg to cover the costs of providing the service during the week.
[This message has been edited by SEA_Tigger (edited 05-13-2003).]
May 13, 2003, 9:49 am
#5
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: SoCal to the rest of the world...
Programs: AA EXP with lots of BA. UA 2MM Lifetime Plat - No longer chase hotel loyalty
Posts: 6,700
Yet, LAX-LHR a month ago was $500 - purchased 5 days before... Go figure on ANY carrier other than B6/WN getting a clue on pricing.
May 13, 2003, 9:50 am
#6
In Memoriam, Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 6,879
It's SFO. I believe Southwest flys SBA to San Jose.
May 13, 2003, 11:26 am
#7
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Chicago
Programs: UA 1K, AA Gold
Posts: 3,640
I think one of the reasons UA keeps TUS-PHX and SBA-SFO and SNA-LAX fares outrageous is to avoid diluting connecting fares. i.e. if SBA-SFO was really cheap, then UA wouldn't be able to control its fares to other destinations from SBA, because the SBA-SFO fare would just be summed with SFO-XXX fare - and therefore all the SBA fares would be based on SFO fares.
This used to be a huge problem in AUS, before Frontier started flying to DEN. AUS-DEN was a high fare route. But it was really cheap to combine an AUS-DFW and DFW-DEN flight because of low fare competition in both markets, and hence AUS-DEN suddenly became a low fare market.
This used to be a huge problem in AUS, before Frontier started flying to DEN. AUS-DEN was a high fare route. But it was really cheap to combine an AUS-DFW and DFW-DEN flight because of low fare competition in both markets, and hence AUS-DEN suddenly became a low fare market.
May 13, 2003, 1:43 pm
#8
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Munich, Germany
Programs: UA
Posts: 1,077
I paid last october $ 498 for DEN-ASE (~120 miles).. (okok... the whole itineary was longer, but I couldnt take the rest of the flight..) so unintentionally I paid somewhere around $4/mile.
May 13, 2003, 2:12 pm
#9
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: NorCal - 1K 2MM
Posts: 2,090
Well, you have my competitive juices running now. IAD-CHO one way in economy is $334 for 77 miles, fare basis BUA, or $4.33/mile, roughly 2x my TUC-PHX example above, and 4x the original example that prompted this post.
May 13, 2003, 5:15 pm
#10
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: SFO/ATL/MEL/BKK
Programs: Marriott Plat, Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond, Hyatt Globalist UA 1K MM, Delta Diamond
Posts: 2,678
SFO-MOD is about $600 walkup each way.
May 14, 2003, 3:56 am
#11
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: NorCal - 1K 2MM
Posts: 2,090
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ryan754:
SFO-MOD is about $600 walkup each way.</font>
SFO-MOD is about $600 walkup each way.</font>
May 14, 2003, 6:56 am
#12
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Chicago, IL USA
Posts: 862
ORD-MSP is almost always insane. It currently prices just under $1000 for a flight of just over 300 miles each way. (And this with 3 airlines competing with hourly flights on the route!) MDW-MSP can usually be found for less than half of that...
May 14, 2003, 7:34 am
#13
Join Date: May 2000
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
Posts: 1,960
SFO-ACV (Eureka, CA) is about 275 miles and regularly prices out to $700+ for a 3-day flight, and about $540 for a 14 day flight. This is the biggest ripoff I experience, and I've driven the miserable drive three times in the last year just to avoid it. It's usually cheaper to go to LA the day before, spend the night, then buy an LAX-ACV ticket. If you plan it carefully (lotsa luck) you can get three business trips (2 to LA) for the same price as one overnight to ACV. Pure unadulterated robbery.