The Friedman Files

The Wright Ammendement compromise was supposed to make travelling cheaper in the DFW area, and initially it did.  But as we reported tonight on our 10pm newscast, prices on some popular leisure routes are now back up to their pre-compromise levels or even higher.   Much of that due to the dramatic increase in jet fuel costs.

A few more details here on the fare trends we talked about in our story, and then some more info on finding travel deals in spite of the price hikes.

Rick Seaney at Farecompare.com used his historical database of airfares to generate the charts below.  Rick looked at American Airlines cheapest 7 day advance fares on the three most popular liesure routes from the Dallas/Ft. Worth market - where AA competes head to head with Southwest.  Those routes are DFW-Los Angeles, DFW-Las Vegas, and DFW-Orlando.

As you look at the charts of AA’s fares below keep in mind the Wright Compromise took effect in October of 2006 (the point where you see the big dip in prices).  Prices really start to go up last summer when the airlines come under heavier pressure from rising fuel costs.   Wish we could provide similar charts of Southwest’s prices but they don’t publicly publish their fares.  However, like American, Southwest has announced fare increases since the compromise.  On these routes where the two airlines compete head-to-head the graphs probably wouldn’t be too much different.

The occasional dips you see in the charts are fare sales that still happen even though the overall price trends have been upward.

The other thing the charts show is that being flexible in your travel plans can save you money.  Right now, it looks like going to Disneyland in CA would be a better deal than Disney World in Orlando.  Also notice Las Vegas has stayed cheaper than the other two routes.  Rick tells us this is probably because US Airways also has a non-stop from DFW increasing the competition on that route.

Despite rising fuel prices and higher airfares, there are always deals to be found.  For more advice on where to look check out some ideas on Rick Seaney’s blog :  http://rickseaney.com/2008/04/01/the-right-to-cheap-airline-tickets-plus-7-great-tips/  You may also want to check out Rick’s company’s website  www.FareCompare.com

One other thing to note:  The Wright Compromise hasn’t taken full effect yet.  Southwest still can’t fly non-stop to markets outside of the Wright states.  Right now they can only issue single tickets for a direct flight that has to make a stop in another Wright state.  In 2014 they’ll be able to fly non-stop from Love to any US city when all of the Wright restrictions are fully lifted.