Identified: The Most Expensive Short Routes In The US

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Atlanta to Key West with Delta was the most expensive short route within the US in Q3 2020.  Delta featured eight times in the top-10, up from zero the year before. Then, business routes dominated, with Philadelphia to Pittsburgh commanding an average of nearly $350 one-way.

Delta B737
Delta features eight times in the top-10 most expensive short routes list. Photo: Getty Images.

With an average fare of $223 each way, Atlanta to Key West with Delta takes the crown for being the most expensive routes within the US under 750 miles. This is based on July to September 2020 – the latest available – and is according to data from the Department of Transport.

Charlotte to Tampa with American was the third most expensive, not helped by no non-stop low-cost carrier. (There nearest available is Allegiant’s Concord to St Pete.) Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying.

Most expensive US routes under 750 miles

Half of the top-10 list, as shown below, were obviously leisure, quite a contrast to the year before when Philadelphia to Pittsburgh was number-one. This illustrates the fall in business routes.

  1. Atlanta to Key West: $223 (with Delta)
  2. Indianapolis to Minneapolis: $222 (Delta)
  3. Charlotte to Tampa: $214 (American)
  4. Atlanta to West Palm Beach: $213 (Delta)
  5. Detroit to Hartford: $212 (Delta)
  6. Cincinnati to Minneapolis: $208 (Delta)
  7. Detroit to Minneapolis: $208 (Delta)
  8. Atlanta to Sarasota: $207 (Delta)
  9. Columbus to Minneapolis: $206 (Delta)
  10. Nantucket to New York metro: $205 (JetBlue and American)

Nantucket to New York, obviously a summertime market, saw JetBlue command a 34% share of the market with its JFK service. It had a good fare premium over American Airlines, at $223 versus $169.

Delta A319
Atlanta to Key West was the US’ most expensive short route in Q3 2020. Photo: Anna Zvereva via Wikimedia.

Atlanta to Key West

Of course, Atlanta to Key West is a small point-to-point market, just like most of the above. And like them, it mainly concerns feeding the hub and is therefore subject to hub economics.

That is, most point-to-point travelrs into hubs often pay higher fares to help offset lower-yielding connecting travelers. For example, looking at this coming August, Key West to Atlanta non-stop comes up as a minimum of $209, Google Flights shows, against $249 for Key West to Seattle via Atlanta – a distance of nearly 3,000 miles. (The author’s relatives live in Seattle.)

$209 is the minimum one-way fare, excluding bags and more, available non-stop from Atlanta to Key West. It isn’t far off the average fare in Q3. Image: Google Flights.

A standard tactic

Higher fares into hubs is a standard pricing tactic, and it’s especially likely if there is no non-stop competition from low-cost carriers or if the hub airline is overwhelmingly dominant. This is why it is often cheaper to fly via somewhere – even if it’s miles out of the way, adding hours onto a trip – than non-stop to a hub.

Looking at Q3 data, Key West’s average fare of $223 was in comparison to $117 for Atlanta to Orlando, $121 for Ft. Lauderdale, and $126 for Tampa, all with much non-stop competition.

Looking ahead to a mid-August day, Atlanta-Ft. Lauderdale will have around 25 departures with Delta, JetBlue, Spirit, and Southwest, with fares currently as low as $59. Image: Google Flights.

A big change from 2019

The top-10 list has changed remarkably compared to the same period in 2019, when Delta didn’t feature once for the most expensive routes.

  1. Philadelphia to Pittsburgh: $344 (American)
  2. Chicago metro to Fayetteville (AR): $342 (American and United)
  3. Indianapolis to Philadelphia: $337 (American)
  4. Huntsville to Washington metro: $331 (American)
  5. Columbus to Philadelphia: $316 (American)
  6. Charlotte to Hartford: $304 (American)
  7. Houston metro to Midland: $297 (United and Southwest)
  8. Charlotte to Pittsburgh: $293 (American)
  9. Charlotte to St. Louis: $291 (American)
  10. Charlotte to Indianapolis: $287 (American)

All were more expensive than Atlanta to Key West, mainly from being business-focused, having a highly dominant hub airline, and from not having coronavirus to deal with.



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