Last August I flew from FLL to LAG for $125.00 RT. This year I want to fly from FLL to BDL (Hartford) The problem is I can't even find a one way ticket that cheap. Have the fares really increased $150.00 to $200.00 ???

Am I out of touch with reality ?

One-way tickets may often be more expensive than roundtrip tickets on many carriers. LAG is an airport code for La Guaira, Venezuala -- so I'm thinking you mean LGA (La Guardia).

Are you out of touch with reality? Well, sure, if you think that $125 is a normal roundtrip ticket price between Fort Lauderdale and New York City or Hartford. It wasn't last year and it won't be this year. You got a steal. The competitive forces may well be different between the two destinations, too, so it is difficult to compare.

Ticket prices are up a bit this year and fare sales can be short-lived. You have plenty of time to get a better fare if you're still looking at August so you might want to just monitor it for awhile to pick up a better price. Anything $300 is probably pretty good and $250 or less would be very good.

I regularly see RT flights from Hartford to FLL or other FL destinations for about $200 + taxes. If I can fly anywhere for less than $300, I feel pretty good about it.

You may be (out of touch with current reality). Two routes we fly regularly Boston-Savannah and Boston-FLL or PBI seem to have gone up enormously in the past year. Either route we were accustomed to paying $200-250 RT. Now I have trouble finding fares for under $400 unless I want to fly at 5 AM or have a 5 hour layover in mid-Atlantic states. And we have found fewer sales and fewer seats when they do have sales (plus it is harder to use FF miles)

That said, part of the reason airlines are in so much trouble is that they werew offering ridiculously low fares - I loved it, but I think things are changing.

Let's see. Since last August, Independence has shut its doors. Delta has siginificantly cut back on NE-Florida flights. Spirit has also cut some flights.

So, fewer players, less deal.

Competition does help bring the prices down. Try to fly into Tampa. They have good prices. Jet Blue has made Ft. Lauderdale cheaper. Recently purchased a flight for $265.00 from Ft. Lauderdale to San Francisco. (Jet Blue started flying direct from Ft. Lauderdale to Oakland.) Now look at it this way. If you do this ten times, it will cost $2,650.00, and that should get you 60,000 miles, which is a reward ticket to Western Europe on American.

Article in Sunday's travel section (don't remember which paper) saying that, on average, airfare is 10-15% higher now than a year ago. Since some routes are actually cheaper, this means that some have gone up considerbly more than the average - I guess we are both looking on those unlucky routes.