Where's the "LUV," Southwest?

Has anyone else noticed that Southwest isn't quite so cheap anymore? Aside from a few cheap routes that nobody would want to fly, you can't fly anywhere for less than $250 or $300 roundtrip anymore, even with months of advance notice. All the special cheap-ass internet fares seem to have gone by the wayside.

It's been steadily increasing since the fall, at least, so it's not just because of the recent oh-shit-all-our-planes-are-death-traps unpleasantness.

Anyone know any secrets? Why can't a guy fly from Chicago to Vegas or New York or L.A. or Florida or any of the other places I've had to go for less than $300 anymore?

 

They had to raise the rates to pay for all the lawsuits.

 

Yeah, I looked at Southwest for the SportsJournalists.com outing, and it was easily $200 more than any other flight I found.

 

Southwest locked in the price of their fuel using options for quite a while, but they weren't able to do that forever. Once the price of fuel stayed high long-term, they had to start buying fuel at higher prices. Higher cost of fuel = higher cost of plane ticket.

 

Same with JetBlue.

 

$619 to Seattle, though?

I'm doing $420 on United. Hell, I could do JetBlue with TV and radio for $500.

 

Sucks.

Amazing how drastically your travel plans change when it suddenly costs $400 more for the two of you to fly than it used to. I didn't realize how much my, ahem, fabulous jet-setting lifestyle depended entirely on Southwest!

 

Had to raise the prices to fix all the defective airplanes and pay the $10.2M proposed federal fine, Max.

 

Damn, I thought I was going to look like the airline industry expert, but someone beat me to it. Their price increases have everything to do with their low-priced fuel options ending; the increases predate the recent judgments against them.

Southwest is still the best bargain for short-range flights (i.e. Chicago-Detroit, Philly-Boston), but on longer trips you can find better deals elsewhere.

 

I'd rather drive if I had my druthers, thank you very much.