U.S. Airfares Are Priced Fairly Relative to the Alternative of Driving, Says Analyst

Nerds, take comfort. Experts say that the "time value" of flying is still higher than it is for driving — suggesting that airfares aren't too outrageously high.

Many Americans are complaining about the price of airfares today. But if one looks at U.S. government data on the consumer prices paid by urban consumers for U.S. flights, airfares are only slightly higher than the average between 2010 and 2014 on a seasonally adjusted basis. (See the chart of data collected by the St. L