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Comment by DanI-S | Hacker News Reader

Awesome idea. But anyone know why flying around the US is so much more expensive than flying around Europe? Flights out of LAX start at $80, and you'll barely get past Colorado until around $200. From London, they start from $30 and you can get anywhere in Europe for under $200.

I really should've made the most of it while I lived 'across the pond'.

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Because the US is big and fuel is expensive.

LA -> Denver is 837 miles. (http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=distance+from+los+angel...)

London -> Rome is 892 miles. (http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=distance+from+london+to...)

LA -> NYC is 2,462 miles. (http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=distance+from+los+angel...)

You can fly the longest flight I can think of in Europe in the same distance. (http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=distance+from+Lisbon+to...)

Also: competition from rail travel (which also benefits from the shorter distances and greater population density).

Prices dropped in Europe when air travel was deregulated in Europe. Right now, it is illegal for any non-US airline to operate any domestic stop within the US, so competition is much harder to come by (whereas in Europe, discount airlines can open freely). Add this to the fact that the US is big and doesn't have tons of hubs like Europe, and it makes sense that travel is so expensive. Fortunately, us US folk can get frequent flyer miles easily (hell I've earned over $5,000 of free tickets in the last year alone, without spending more than $200)

-M

Prices are volatile. I don't see you getting anywhere from London to anywhere for $30 these days.

Hah, my first search on Ryanair from London Stansted to Pisa one way was 20.99 GBP, or ~$34. Prices are still insanely cheap

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