Originally Posted by
iahphx
But is that just Spain? I know the departure taxes from Spain are lower than many other European countries, but there's nowhere else that you can consistently get sub-$300 fares.
BTW, expenses on the ground aren't that high either. Like I've booked tickets to BCN for a visit to Catalonia and the south of France. A week's automatic transmission car rental is under $150 if you shop around on skyscanner. Hotel expenses, particularly at highly-rated b&b's and gites, are less than half the price of comparable USA accommodations.
ARN has also been consistently cheap due to DY, and LON tickets aren't bad either if you book far enough in advance. OTOH LON has always had relatively inexpensive options due to all the high-paying J pax, cross-subsidizing cheaper TATL Y fares.
Spain, however, is a different market, and TATL LCCs have made a big dent in the fares by adding capacity, forcing traditional airlines to match. Also, you have to remember that if nonstops are cheap, one-stops, less attractive than non-stops, will also be cheap. You have plenty of traditional and LCC options for 1-stop flights, and some (e.g. TP) provide consistently cheap 1-stop fares to/from MAD, forcing IB/UX to match.
BTW. BCN/MAD/LIS-SFO/OAK is of specific personal interest and BCN-SFO/OAK has been consistently cheaper than MAD-SFO (IB) due to DY on the route. Now, with LIS-SFO, we'll see how this dynamic will change, as TP tends to compete on flights ex-MAD quite well.