I didn't think there was another short-haul route, with such absurdly high fares as DME. I was wrong.

I have to go to KBP in two weeks. The return fare, for a 2 1/2 hour flight on an A320, is a stroke-inducing £1700 in J. Or you can save £100 for a totally restricted non-changeable ticket. Shock of all shocks. That's only £100 less than the DME fares, for a 1,300 mile flight.

How can they etc etc etc? I know, because mugs like us pay these fares. And I'll only earn 5200 miles, for £1700 of spend. I know the CIV scoremaster will be throwing a party, and cracking open the Dischwasser, but this is outrageous.

What are the alternatives are there? AY doesn't have a same day connection. MA does, but - as someone noted before - MA only seems to be offering J fares on the LGW-BUD flights, not the LHR-BUD codeshares. Two flights on MA, and I'd surely be rolling off the plane at KBP smelling like cabbage and East European toilet cleaner.

DUB-Eastern Europe offers the usual savings on BA, with DUB-KBP around £1000, but do I want to spend a morning visiting the Grubby Circle? Not really.

Looks like this will be a further £1700 out of my travel budget. The worst thing is knowing where I could have gone on BA for that much money.