The 10 Most Expensive Flights in America

Editor's Note: This story originally appeared on Upgraded Points.

Despite sharp increases in ticket prices since before the pandemic, 2023 marked a record year for U.S. air travel. While there is some hope for relief moving into 2024, airline prices remain high.

To help travelers navigate this new normal, Upgraded Points analyzed the most recent airfare data from the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics and calculated average ticket prices for every flight segment in the U.S.

Among all U.S. domestic flights, the highest-priced itineraries share similar characteristics: They connect major cities to popular resort and vacation destinations.

The following is a breakdown of average airfare for domestic flight itineraries in the U.S.

The analysis was conducted by Upgraded Points using data from the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. For more information on the data, see the methodology section at the end.

1. Aspen, CO — West Palm Beach/Palm Beach, FL

• Average One-Way Airfare: $770.65
• Change in One-Way Airfare (YoY): +24.6%
• One-Way Distance (Miles): 1,770
• Price per Mile: $0.44
• Number of Passengers per Day: 18

2. Aspen, CO — Miami, FL

• Average One-Way Airfare: $668.64
• Change in One-Way Airfare (YoY): +4.4%
• One-Way Distance (Miles): 1,796
• Price per Mile: $0.37
• Number of Passengers per Day: 75

3. Eagle, CO — Miami, FL

• Average One-Way Airfare: $661.61
• Change in One-Way Airfare (YoY): +18.3%
• One-Way Distance (Miles): 1,810
• Price per Mile: $0.37
• Number of Passengers per Day: 83

4. Nantucket, MA — San Francisco, CA

• Average One-Way Airfare: $651.13
• Change in One-Way Airfare (YoY): -5.1%
• One-Way Distance (Miles): 2,768
• Price per Mile: $0.24
• Number of Passengers per Day: 29

5. Los Angeles, CA — Nantucket, MA

• Average One-Way Airfare: $646.23
• Change in One-Way Airfare (YoY): -6.3%
• One-Way Distance (Miles): 2,666
• Price per Mile: $0.24
• Number of Passengers per Day: 22

6. Aspen, CO — Fort Myers, FL

• Average One-Way Airfare: $646.03
• Change in One-Way Airfare (YoY): +9.5%
• One-Way Distance (Miles): 1,693
• Price per Mile: $0.38
• Number of Passengers per Day: 14

7. Miami, FL — Sun Valley/Hailey/Ketchum, ID

• Average One-Way Airfare: $645.82
• Change in One-Way Airfare (YoY): +33.3%
• One-Way Distance (Miles): 2,266
• Price per Mile: $0.29
• Number of Passengers per Day: 11

8. New York, NY — Sun Valley/Hailey/Ketchum, ID

• Average One-Way Airfare: $641.52
• Change in One-Way Airfare (YoY): -1.4%
• One-Way Distance (Miles): 2,072
• Price per Mile: $0.31
• Number of Passengers per Day: 37

9. Eagle, CO — Fort Myers, FL

• Average One-Way Airfare: $620.98
• Change in One-Way Airfare (YoY): +24.9%
• One-Way Distance (Miles): 1,707
• Price per Mile: $0.36
• Number of Passengers per Day: 18

10. Washington, DC — Yuma, AZ

• Average One-Way Airfare: $608.29
• Change in One-Way Airfare (YoY): +37.3%
• One-Way Distance (Miles): 2,158
• Price per Mile: $0.28
• Number of Passengers per Day: 16

Methodology

The data used in this study is from the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ Domestic Airline Consumer Airfare Report. The statistics shown are for one-way trips, aggregated as directionless city pairs.

In certain cities, data is aggregated across multiple airports to improve the quality of the fare estimates and to reduce redundancies in the data.

For example, instead of showing multiple fare estimates for flights between San Francisco-area airports and New York-area airports, only one fare estimate is shown.

Airfares for each city pair include nonstop and connecting itineraries and were calculated using a weighted average of Q1–Q3 2023 data — the latest available — based on passenger volume.

The distance metric is the nonstop distance, even if a nonstop option is not available. Only city-pair markets with data available for both 2023 and 2022 were included.