I am a US citizen. I am flying to the US from outside the US. Almost every flight I have flown from the US and back has been a direct flight and I always look for a good price and good time schedule. I do notice the direct flight prices now are very high. I usually fly with Delta or Jetblue or sometimes American. Basically whichever is the lowest cost. I have never seen flight prices this high.

What I did notice was American and United seem to have more reasonable prices flying back to the US. It's still at least 2 times the amount I normally pay for it though... but these are one stop flights with a layover. Now do people here book these flights to save money or do most people do not bother with this? I mean these direct flights are like $450 to $600 back to the US. Normally I pay anywhere between $125-$200 each way. Some of these one stop flights are a bit more than $300 so you save $150-$300. I do notice some of these seem to be main cabin as well with AA so that is good right since you can cancel and get credit for up to a year?

Now if I do decide on doing a one stop flight, how long does the layover in the Us city should be no less than? For example a flight from Cancun back to a US city and then to the final US city... I seen some layover of 1.5 hours. Another is 3.5 hours etc. But are shorter layout giving you a bigger chance of missing your next flight? Of course if you do one stop flight, there is double the chance of delay and other issue like luggage lost? Also when you do a one stop flight, you do not need to get your checked luggage right from the first US city you stop at before you go on the connecting flight to your final city?

Thanks.