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CLT vs. RDU: Which airport is cheaper to fly out of?

CHARLOTTE — Flying in and out of Charlotte Douglas International Airport has been difficult for some travelers in recent years due to ongoing construction at the airport, but some travelers say it’s also more expensive.

“Prices weren’t too bad for us, but it still probably would have been cheaper out of Raleigh,” said Jesse Dodson, a Fayetteville native who now lives in Charlotte.

Channel 9 caught up with Dodson recently at Charlotte Douglas Airport on his way back from a weekend trip to Boston, his first trip out of CLT in the two years he’s lived in the Queen City. He says he typically flies out of Raleigh-Durham International Airport because he always has and he enjoys the convenience.

“You could pull up to RDU, park your car for $10-15 dollars a night, and be in and out of there – you know, get in the airport (quickly),” Dodson said. “If you have a flight scheduled for noon, you could show up at 11 o’clock and hop on the flight no problem, because it’s just so smooth in and out.”

But convenience may not be the only perceived advantage: a recent cost analysis by Channel 9 found flights are often cheaper departing from Raleigh than from Charlotte.

To try and quantify that theory, Channel 9 reporter Evan Donovan searched flights out of both airports to three popular tourist destinations, keeping all other variables the same: nonstop flights only; to Orlando, New York, and London; for a one-week trip; using dates that were one month, three months, and six months in advance.

On the cheapest flights, about half the searches showed RDU was the cheaper airport from which to depart. For the other half, the flights were equal. Most of those flights were on discount airlines, like Frontier.

Donovan also used the specified criteria to search flights specifically on American Airlines, since CLT is one of its regional hubs. Charlotte Douglas officials say American controls 90% of the flights out of Charlotte, one of the most dominant hubs of any airport in the country.

Here, the difference was even more pronounced: six of the nine flights on American were cheaper out of RDU, two were the same, and only one was cheaper out of CLT.

“From a business standpoint, the cost structure is much more favorable for airlines when they talk about their hubs—there’s just a lot of efficiencies built in,” said Sean Cudahy of travel website “The Points Guy,” which posts travel tips for frequent fliers and industry news.

“Charlotte is a huge hub for American Airlines,” said Cudahy, who is based out of Raleigh. “It’s one of the hubs where they have, I think, the lowest cost to operate across their entire network. Whether it’s staff maintenance, gate space…they just run an efficient operation there.”

Given those advantages, Channel 9 reached out to CLT officials to find out on why flights would be more expensive than its neighbor 2.5 hours northeast.

A CLT spokesperson said there are “seven major carriers, 15 regional carriers and three foreign flag carriers” operating out of CLT but referred Channel 9 to the airline “for flight-related information of any kind, as they determine pricing.”

Stephanie Hawco, director of media relations at RDU, said “A record 19 airlines currently serve RDU, offering more nonstop destinations than ever before. The record number of choices encourages competition between airlines and provides travelers with opportunities to save on airfare.”

American Airlines did not return a request for comment.

Cudahy says there are still ways to find cheap flights regardless of which airport you depart or what day you search.

“There’s some talk about what day of the week is best to book – we have not found that that exists,” said Cudahy. “It’s more about what day of the week you’re flying on.”

Cudahy says during the week, Tuesday and Wednesday tend to be the lowest demand days, and Saturday is best for weekend travel since many people depart Thursday or Friday and return Sunday.

“You also don’t have (hardly) any of the business travel mixed in” on Saturdays, Cudahy said.

As for how far in advance to book your travel, Cudahy says that “Goldilocks period” where you find the perfect fit of flight times and price “kind of depends on the route.”

“We definitely tend to see some of the sharpest price increases happen within that month period. So, five weeks, four weeks, three weeks, two weeks – it tends to go up and up and up from there. But if you’re looking months and months out for a short haul domestic flight, sometimes you might not get the best deal either.”

As for why certain airports may be more or less expensive to fly in and out of, Cudahy says “it’s hard to find a rhyme or rhythm for it.”

“It’s really a supply and demand situation,” said Cudahy. “Heavy demand for a certain route, a certain day of the week – a lot of time that translates to higher prices. If airlines are trying to sell what we would call in other industries “spoiling inventory” – seats that are going unfilled – that’s when you can start to see some discounting happen. Airlines lose money when there are empty seats.”

Cudahy’s best tip? Be flexible.

“Use a site like Google Flights that will allow you to look at a wide range of itineraries across a number of airlines,” said Cudahy. “I live in Raleigh, so I frequently search RDU, but I’ll also search Charlotte. I’ll even search Greensboro. The more you can open up that search, the more you can be flexible with your travel dates, your travel times – the more you’ll open yourself up to finding the best fare.”

As for Dodson, he’ll keep searching flights out of both Raleigh and Charlotte…but he has his favorite.

“If I’m gonna do a trip with the family or anything, it’s a no brainer to fly out of RDU.”


WATCH BELOW: Portion of west Charlotte road to close for months due to airport taxiway construction

Evan Donovan

Evan Donovan, wsoctv.com

Evan is an anchor and reporter for Channel 9.

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