U.S. airlines are always moaning about the cost of fuel. Logic would dictate that they pass those costs along to the flying public, based on how much fuel we use per passenger (that is, how many miles we fly).
But logic has nothing to do with air travel. Today I tried to book airline tickets for four family members from Myrtle Beach to San Francisco this coming August. Myrtle Beach is an expensive airport to fly in and out of, and the costs, at more than $500 per ticket, were well beyond what I intended to spend.
We have had good luck flying out of Charleston airport, about 100 minutes south of Myrtle Beach. I checked prices from Charleston to San Francisco for the same dates in August. The best connections were on US Airways, with all flights requiring a change of planes in Charlotte, NC. The costs seemed reasonable at $362 per ticket. But then I figured that, since there were four of us and any further savings on the cost of the tickets would be compounded, maybe we would drive the 3 1/2 hours to Charlotte and take the non-stop flight to San Fran from there. It had to be cheaper, even after we paid to park the car for a week.
Yeah, right. All non-stop flights from Charlotte, including those we would have connected to from Charleston, were $160 more than the two flights combined (Charleston to Charlotte and Charlotte to San Francisco). In the twisted world of the airline business, more is less -- the more fuel you use, the less you pay.