Why Is The Cost Of Airfare So High?

If you have flown anywhere in the last five years, you probably noticed that a plane ticket is one of the most expensive items you can buy these days. As a matter of fact, just going to a different part of your own country can cost a minimum of $300 round trip. But how can even a short domestic flight cost so much? As it turns out there are many elements that go into the price of your plane ticket. Here is an overview of just a few of the items that account for your cost of airfare.

Gasoline Prices

Since 1996, airline gasoline prices have risen and fallen to radical degrees with the current price sitting at almost $1.50 per gallon. Although that seems much cheaper than what you spend for your own car, consider this: if you were to travel across the United States from the east coast to the west coast, your plane would use 6,900 gallons of fuel to get you there and back. With the current gas prices, that means that it would cost over $10,350, and that is just a domestic flight. International flights cost volumes more. Obviously, the airline industry can only pay so much of that themselves, so some of that cost pours into your ticket price.

Hidden Fees

Most travelers know about the fees that they need to pay when taking a plane ride, but there are many other hidden fees that you probably did not know about. For example, you pay $2.50 for the September 11th Security Fee which pays for the TSA and their equipment. There is a Passenger Facility Charge of $4.50 per person, a US Immigration User Fee of $7, and a US Customs User Fee of $5.50. And this is just the tip of the iceberg, international flights can more than double the amount of fees that every passenger pays.

The Salary Of Your Pilot

Obviously, your flight crew isn’t working for free so helping to pay their salary increases your cost of airfare. After logging their initial flight hours, your standard airline pilot makes an average salary of just under $100,000 a year. Usually, there are two pilots on each flight. You will probably have at least three to four flight attendants on your plane as well, and they average about $40,000 a year. With all that combined experience, you are looking at an average of $360,000 per flight just to pay their salaries. All that money sure adds up and the customers are certainly not off the hook.

In the end, travelers will have to deal with expensive plane tickets because $300 for a round-trip domestic flight is the new norm, and there isn’t much to do about it. These days, it really does pay to fly the friendly skies.