For those who frequently travel between the West Coast, the East Coast, and Europe, it may be fairly obvious that flights across the Atlantic Ocean are significantly more expensive than flights across the United States.
While you might immediately think to dismiss this because flights across the Atlantic are significantly longer than those across the country, there are many cases in which transatlantic flights are not all that longer than cross-country ones, but they still come along with significantly higher price tags.
Flights from Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) are not all that much shorter than flights from Boston Logan to London Heathrow Airport (LHR), and on some days they may even be faster if the wind conditions are favorable enough.
Nonetheless, the prices charged by airlines on this kind of route are significantly higher, and the reasons behind this are far more complex than the additional fuel that might be required to fly across the Atlantic.
There is a unique set of rules and guidelines that govern what airlines charge passengers across the Atlantic, most of which are not actually fixed rules but rather a set of industry norms formed by the regulatory dynamics of transatlantic travel.
In the past, flights across the Atlantic were strictly controlled by bilateral air agreements (namely the Bermuda Air Agreements), which governed not just the number of flights but also the fares that carriers in the North Atlantic could charge.
Nonetheless, the reasons behind this price differential are fascinating to explore, and they tell an interesting story about the nature and history of transatlantic flight.
Let's begin by taking a deeper look at this concept in action, by examining prices on flights between Boston, London, and Los Angeles on Delta Air Lines , a full-service network carrier that operates both of these routes.
For an itinerary departing from Boston on Monday, February 17th, and arriving in London the following morning on February 18th, with a return flight on Friday the 21st, passengers can expect to pay a minimum of $777 for a roundtrip economy class ticket, according to Delta's website.
Obviously, business-class tickets will come along with significantly higher fares.
Flying from Boston to Los Angeles, however, on the exact same dates, will only cost you $600, a significant price reduction.
This may not seem like a significant difference, but further analysis demonstrates just how drastic this actually is.
The average flight time between Boston and London is just over six hours, roughly the same time that it takes to fly from Boston to Los Angeles.
This is because winds are stronger in the eastbound direction, and flights from Los Angeles to Boston will be significantly shorter than flights from London to Boston.
In business-class cabins, the difference is far more drastic. Between Boston and London, the roundtrip itinerary costs roughly $2,300 in business class, while to Los Angeles that amount is just $1,300 roundtrip.
This demonstrates a price that is nearly 80% higher for the flights to London. Thus, what gives? What exactly is making these nonstop flights across the Atlantic so much more expensive?
The devil is in the details. While one might expect that there are simply more people willing to pay more for transatlantic flights (as the price is pretty much just a function of demand), this is not the case on these lucrative and highly competitive flights across the North Atlantic.
If one takes a deeper look at the specific itineraries we mentioned in the previous example, one will get a better understanding of what makes these tickets so expensive.
For starters, Delta's $600 itinerary between Boston and Los Angeles consists of a $530 fare with an additional $70 in fees and surcharges.
The amount that Delta Air Lines charges you is roughly $530, and the additional amount is used to pay the regulatory fees associated with your flight.
The first of these fees is the United States Transportation Tax, a 7.5% surcharge on all taxable airfares paid by passengers in the United States.
This fee accounts for roughly $40 of the $70 on this itinerary. The next charge is the September 11th Security Fee, which is also known as the United States Passenger Civil Aviation Security Service Fee, a surcharge of $11.20.
The final two surcharges, a Domestic Flight Segment Tax of around $10 and a Passenger Facility Charge of $9, are also both standard on both tickets booked in the United States.
The fees, however, for the flight across the Atlantic to London are really where this ticket starts to get expensive. When flying internationally, it is not surprising that fees will be significantly higher, as international passengers are those who should be paying to fund the immigration and customs services they will be using.
However, the fees charged to airline passengers in the North Atlantic go far beyond this amount. On the itinerary we have analyzed, the total ticket fare (the amount that Delta charges the passenger) is nearly identical at $531.
However, the fees on this journey amount to nearly $250.
Therefore, this obviously begs the question of why the fees for international journeys are so much higher than those for domestic ones.
We can attempt to find an answer to this by digging into the specific fees that Delta charges passengers on this roundtrip service.
Both the September 11th Security Fee and the US Passenger Facility Charge are both parts of this ticket as well, but they are cut in half as they only apply to departing flight segments.
The remaining fees include a hefty UK departure tax of over $60, and customs and immigration fees which amount to around $14.
The final and largest surcharge that passengers will be subject to is the United Kingdom's Air Passenger Duty, which accounts for a whopping $108 of the fees on this ticket.
