Have you looked at the cost of airline tickets lately? One listener, Sam Kulpinski reached out after seeing the cost to fly from one side of the country to the other. She left a message asking, "why do flights cost so much?"

The amount of travel, especially around the holidays has rebounded to pre-COVID levels, but one aspect of traveling - business travelers- hasn't rebounded as much. Could this be why flights are so expensive?

5 Things Sunday host James Brown sat down with USA TODAY travel reporter Zach Wichter and Patrick De Haan of Gas Buddy to to talk about travel and airline prices.

Not surprisingly, De Hann said the cost of fuel plays a big role in airline prices. He said there are fewer planes available right now and that is also adding to it.

For more on the cost of airline tickets:

Industrial strength: The aircraft retirement party has been postponed

American Airlines retires last of its 'workhorse' MD-80 fleet

United: Boeing 747s to be retired by October 2018

A fond farewell to five fantastic fleets

What planes have US airlines retired in 2020?

The afterlife of retired aircraft: what are old planes turned into?

Air Transport Aircraft Retirements Update

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For more stories form James Brown, Patrick De Haan and Zach Wichter click on the links below:

https://www.usatoday.com/staff/9225973002/james-brown/

http://patrickdehaan.com/

https://www.usatoday.com/staff/7620683001/zach-wichter/

If you have a comment about the show or a question or topic you'd like us to discuss, send James Brown an email at [email protected] or [email protected]. You can also leave him a voicemail at 585-484-0339. We might have you on the show.