Should the U.S. government subsidize rescue flight for stranded Americans? Repatriation flights are not cheap and many Americans are expressing outrage over what they view as price gouging.
Since late January, over 60,000 Americans have been repatriated from over 100 countries due to short-notice border closures. While the U.S. State Department has helped to organize these flights, unlike many nations, it has opted to run ticket sales through the airlines operating the mission. And it aint always cheap…
Let’s take an example a present-day example. There are hundreds of Americans trapped in Peru. Rather than run special repatriation flights, the State Department has contracted with Eastern Airlines to serve these missions. This week, there are two flights from Lima (LIM) to Miami (MIA), one on Thursday, one on Saturday. A one-way ticket will run you $2,049.05 in Pathfinder (economy) class while Globetrotter (premium) class will run $2,497.45.
In the COVID-19 era, one-way repatriation flights to the U.S. routinely cost more than $2,000 each.
Why Are Repatriation Flights So Expensive?
One reason these flights are so expensive is because they tend to operate only one-way with passengers. For example, there are few Peruvians remaining in the USA who need to return to Peru, so the Miami to Lima sector runs empty in my example above. That sill burns fuel and requires crew members. Thus, airlines like Eastern make it up by “socking” it to travelers on the inbound journey.
But high prices do not necessarily imply price gouging. Rather, they just imply that airlines (or Uncle Sam) are not being charitable. As The Hill reports:
Baseline expenses for charter flights include fuel, crew, maintenance and any taxes or fees charged by foreign governments and airport authorities. Each ticket price is then calculated by the sum total divided by the number of seats.
So it could be that the $2,049.05 one-way fares Eastern is charging for travel from Lima to Miami this week are simply enough to recover costs of the round-trip journey.
In “normal” times, a ticket from Lima to Miami is under $500.
U.S. State Department Taking A Backseat
Traditionally, passengers on “rescue” flights would sign a promissory note to the U.S. government promising to pay back the cost of their flight at a later date. And often, the invoice never arrived.
But in this era, for this pandemic, the State Department is taking a different approach.
“While we remain in constant contact with our private sector partners, ultimately, private airlines set their own prices. The prices the carriers charge are commercial decisions that factor in the costs associated with operating non-standard flights as well as the risk each airline is assuming in arranging these flights. Travelers are free to decide themselves whether to purchase.”
Noting the risk that airlines take in voluntarily choosing to undertake these flights, the U.S. government has not placed any price caps on what can be charged per seat.
That said, the U.S. will not leave its citizens hanging. For example, the U.S. Embassy in Peru is offering emergency loans for those who cannot afford the Eastern flight:
“We recognize that the price of these flights is higher than the pre-COVID-19 market price. All repatriation flights (U.S. government or private) incur significant costs. If you cannot afford this price, you are eligible to apply for a U.S. Embassy emergency repatriation loan that you will need to repay after returning to the United States.”
(just fill out this form and email it to the embassy)
Should Stranded Americans Have To Pay For Rescue Flights?
My initial instinct is to answer this question with a meme:
or a .gif:
I mean, seriously, it is April 15th…this COVID-19 thing is hardly a novel any more. Travel has been limited for, what, six weeks in most of the world?
Are people just realizing now that it is time to come home?
I’m just generalizing, of course. Many people no doubt had good reasons to stick around.
But serious question: if you’ve been there that long, why not just wait it out?
Anyway, you can call me Scrooge because there’s a bipartisan push in Congress to make these flights “free” for stranded citizens.
As the Hill reports:
Stranded and repatriated travelers are hoping Congress will act quickly on a bipartisan bill introduced last month by Reps. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.) that directs the State Department to cover the costs for repatriation flights.
That won’t happen since Congress has postponed normal legislative sessions.
But what weasel language. Directing the State Department to cover these costs just means taxpayers pick up the cost.
Sorry, but I’m in no mood to pay to rescue people who decided to extend their honeymoon…
> Read More: Newlyweds “Trapped” At Five-Star Resort In The Maldives
CONCLUSION
Repatriation flights are more expensive than I thought. Still, that doesn’t mean they should be taxpayer subsidized. For all the tongue and cheek in this post, I do hope that those who are stranded and wish to return home, wherever home is, can soon do so.
image: Venkat Mangudi / Wikimedia Commons
I think $2000 on a special charter repatriation flight is worth the cost even if it’s one-way in economy. It can even be argued that $2500 for a business/pre,mium class seat is around market price (or even cheaper.)
Repatriation flights are also operating to places that US citizens aren’t allowed to enter, so sometimes airlines will have to deadhead a second crew to fly the plane and original crew home. That reduces the denominator of seats and increases the cost numerator.
Matt, you bozo. That’s just ONE example. Hardly price gouging.
I said the quite the opposite. It’s consumers who are saying this is price gouging. Read the linked story as well from The Hill…
Seems like a good deal to me. Some outlets are reporting international air travel may not return until 2021 or even sometime in 2022. What’s the alternative? Walk from Lima?
I love how people massive overhype how dangerous this virus is.
Then they demand the government control everyone else for ‘safety’
And then they complain that prices are too high.
Classic New American thinking right there.
This has been happening all over the world with other nations’ repatriation flights as well. There have been many stories about Australian repatriation flights with economy fares in the $5000-$6000 range to return citizens from places like Peru. Many have had to pass because of the cost. I’ve read similar stories involving other nations’ flights being costly as well. Doesn’t sound like US airlines are gouging when placed in that context.
I’ve been wondering how the economics of these flights worked. It would be magnanimous of the government to pay for them, but I recognize how problematic that would be. What a terrible decision to have to make, if you don’t have money…
I’m more sympathetic to expats; many had jobs/accommodations, and it was no simple matter for them to repatriate in a timely manner. Business travellers/ tourists ignoring the travel advisories…I have very little sympathy at all: they chose to ignore warnings and now have to pay the price for those poor decisions. As for people getting on cruise ships after this thing started…almost unbelievable….
Aren’t EU repatriation flights free? Why shouldn’t these flights be free? Countries should take care of their citizens. If I’m trapped in an ISIS prison, I would hope my country would spend quite a bit of money to try and rescue me, because citizenship. Similarly, if I happen to be trapped abroad, I would hope my country would pay for me to get home.
If you play stupid games you win stupid prizes.
Assuming you had no valid reason to travel and/or stay overseas and are only thinking of getting back home just now, then you absolutely deserve to pay whatever the airlines are charging to repatriate you. You are not a charity case and neither is an airline.
Proud to call Canada home, got repatriated on a 9 hour journey on Air Canada for less than $1000 USD.
I’m not surprised here with what’s happening to yankees, you pay tons just to see a doctor so it’s totally fine if you get hosed over coming back home from a country that closed its borders without notice. On a very related note Europeans stranded in Peru got repatriated for free, all they had to do was contact their embassies (I reckon KLM took care of flights for everyone).
Americans deserve this because that’s how their system works, you don’t pay you don’t play. No fcuks given.
Stranded passengers were not “extending their honeymoon” as you imply. The Trump administration knew since January of the possibility of a pandemic. Yet they refused to issue a travel alert until the third week of March (except for China which they did in January). In our case we flew to Argentina for a two week vacation on March 10. There were no travel advisories for Argentina. Ten days later we were surprised with the decision of the Argentinian government of cancelling all domestic and international travel. We were stranded in Bariloche without any possibility of going back to Buenos Aires to take a “humanitarian flight” back to Miami. After more than one month stranded in Bariloche we were finally authorized by local government to take a 24 hour bus drive from Bariloche to Buenos Aires and to take a “humanitarian” $1,700 Eastern flight back to Miami. Yes that airplane had to fly empty from Miami to Buenos Aires and even though we were only going one way, we should pay for a round trip ticket to cover the costs. But a normal round trip from Miami to Buenos Aires ranges between 800 to 900 dollars. Add to that that one of the main costs of a flight is fuel, and jet fuel is at least 50 percent cheaper. So by charging $1,700 somebody in the State Department along with Eastern Airlines is getting rich at the expense of stranded passengers who are willing to pay whatever they are charged to get home. And YES, due to the irresponsibility of the State Department and the Trump administration for not issuing an ontime travel adisory, they should be paying for those tickets.