I’ll take Flying for $300, Alex.  The Answer — 15.3 cents.  The Question — What was the average airfare paid per mile last year, for all domestic flights in the United States?

Yes, I thought 15 cents was sort of low, myself.  So I priced a few non-stop regional flights between some Eastern U.S. cities selected at random.  Here are the round-trip air miles and fares for one person, departing Tuesday, October 28 and returning Tuesday, November 4:

 Asheville to Newark       $354     1198 miles     29.5 cents/mile
 Cleveland to Boston       $336     1126 miles     29.8 cents/mile
 Richmond to Atlanta       $194      962 miles     20.2 cents/mile
 Pittsburgh to St. Louis   $224     1106 miles     20.3 cents/mile

The first two flights in the list cost almost twice the U.S. average, on a cents-per-mile basis.  And while the other two flights are less expensive, they too are higher than the average.

If my randomly selected flights are more expensive than the average, then someone else has to be flying the cheap flights.  We need look no further than the 4490-mile round-trip flight between JFK and LAX — for the same dates, the fare would be $316, or 6.4 cents per mile.  This hardly covers the cost of the fuel.  What gives?

On to Final Jeopardy.  Category — A Midsummer Flight’s Dream.  The Answer —  Forsooth, I fear not.  The Question — Verily, are these fares fair?