Not only hotel prices...

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by Rickypt

Hotel prices have really skyrocketed. From 2002-2005, I could always stay at a nice hotel for $150-$175.

But air tickets also!!! I used to fly to Miami (from Lima) for $500, $400 or less if I was lucky and find a good sale. Now.. $850 average. 900 to 1000 Lima-NY !!! $800 to 900 Lima- LAX!!!!

But the issue is just with the U.States, cause Argentina, Brasil, and even MADRID are the same rates or less. LAN (Chile) offer cheaper tickets Lima-Madrid than Lima-Miami!!! (and now it's summer /high season in Spain, isn't that weird??)

I heard that the reason are the security kits that increase costs of flights (the hidden agents in the planes, more security mecanisms, etc), but not sure.

Far ago when for $100 each city you could visit 3 cities or more in the US (plus the international ticket). I remember in 1994 I pay less than $1,000 for a Lima-Miami-SanFrancisco-NY-LasVegas-Miami-Lima.

Oh I miss the 90s.. and THE 80s!!!

[macfanken]

It's all about the price of fuel. Airlines are paying triple or more what they were paying for fuel in the late 90s.

[DavidMn]

Originally Posted by macfanken

It's all about the price of fuel. Airlines are paying triple or more what they were paying for fuel in the late 90s.

Just like the rest of us.

[Chilly Willy]

Security is a small part of it. Fuel is a larger part of it, but not the whole thing. A lot of it is just the airlines returning to profitability. After years of losing money the airlines are (almost) all reporting profits for the past quarter. They've cut back the number of flights, creating higher demand for the remaining seats. Also, the failure of Independence Air and the realization by other low-cost carriers that you can't survive on $99 tickets means that the major airlines no longer have to lose money to stay in a market that competes with low-cost carriers. There was a time when some flights lost money even with every seat sold at full fare. No more.

I take between 4 and 10 flights each week, and I've seen the average fare go from $300 to over $500. On the other hand, thanks to the rise of the low-costers, my trips into the "fortress hub" cities like Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Charlotte, Denver, and Pittsburgh have dropped from $800 to $500.