This has always bugged me. Example I just looked up: Philly to Vegas round trip is $533 nonstop. Same dates from JFK? $152 nonstop. That’s not a small difference.
And it’s not just Vegas. Same story with Phoenix, international routes, a bunch of places. People always say “competition,” but Philly has Frontier and Spirit, so fares should be lower more consistently. They’re not.
Back in the early 2000s there was National Airlines out of Vegas flying to Philly for like $50 each way. Planes were half empty. Obviously not sustainable, but it shows what pricing can look like when there’s real pressure.
Now even routes that used to be dirt cheap are expensive. Vegas to Phoenix a few days out is $300+. Southwest used to run that route constantly and fares were nothing.
I know this sounds like a rant, but some cities just get blessed with cheap airfare to almost anywhere. Philly definitely isn’t one of them. If you live in one of those cheap hubs, consider yourself lucky.
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