Originally Posted by
wharvey
...Besides, in many cases it is a longer distance to go from Chicago to the West Coast than from Chicago to the East Coast.... so you could say it is appropriate to charge more for the longer distance...
Given that the OP is in San Francisco, I think the complaint should be interpreted as "it costs more to go from San Francisco to Chicago than it costs to go from San Francisco to the East Coast." The last time I looked, Chicago was closer to San Francisco than the East Coast was.
As for why: in a nutshell, supply and demand.