Everyone is always looking for the cheapest flight. And while there are ways to get cheaper airfare, the age of rock bottom prices are simply over. If you’ve been flying for at least the past few years, you might have noticed ticket prices, even the cheapest ones, seem to be going up and up. Save some flash sale or price war, consumers are simply paying a lot more than they used to. If you really want rock bottom prices, you’ll need to invent a time machine and go back ten years. (Don’t forget to take me with you!)

Ticket prices are high today for a number of reasons. For starters, the industry has consolidated a lot over the last few years. Less competition means less need for cheaper prices. Thanks to bankruptcies and mergers now there are only 4 major airlines in the US (soon to be three when American merges with US Airways). In Canada, you have 2. In Europe, KLM and Air France are now one company, and Lufthansa has its hands in many smaller airlines. (While budget airlines keep prices cheap within Europe, once you leave the continent, those 10 Euro prices disappear!) As airlines have partnered up, merged, or gone bankrupt, there is little incentive or need to create low fares to win your business.

Secondly, the price of airline fuel has increased tremendously. Back in 1996, airline fuel cost 55 cents per gallon. Now, it’s $2.97 per gallon. Airlines can’t absorb all of that increase, so they pass some of that on to the consumer, leading to higher fares.

Additionally, airline taxes and security fees have also increased, adding a lot of money onto your base fare. Currently, the following fees are added to the cost of your ticket:

September 11th Security Fee of $2.50 (up to a maximum of $10 per round-trip).
Passenger facility charges of $4.50 per segment (up to a maximum of $18 per round-trip).
US Federal Domestic Segment Fee of $3.70 per segment.
US Travel Facilities Tax of $8.20 per direction (only applicable to flights to/from Alaska and Hawaii and the 48 contiguous US states or between Alaska and Hawaii);
US Immigration User fee of $7.
US Customs User fee of $5.50.
US APHIS User fee of $5, US International Transportation Tax of $16.30 per arrival or departure; and Foreign Government security/tourism/airport/international transportation taxes and fees of up to $290 (varies widely by destination and fluctuates with exchange rates).