My airport, in Sioux Falls, was always Northwest-dominated, feeding into the airline’s main hub in Minneapolis. Delta and United also served Sioux Falls, acting as quasi-competitors. But now that Northwest and Delta are one, there is barely any competition in Sioux Falls.

I just had my first real experience with this, trying to book a one-way fare to Norfolk, Virginia for a Saturday in October. I didn’t expect it would be difficult to find a decent price, since I am pretty flexible in my travel plans, and was booking for a weekend over a month away. I have been shopping all of the travel websites to see what I could find. I have kept track of the fares for a couple weeks, and have truly been shocked by what I have been seeing.

Here is what I found on Orbitz.com, and the other travel sites are very similar. The least expensive one-stop fare for a one-way ticket out of Sioux Falls on a Saturday is $737 plus taxes? Really? The only conclusion I can reach is that Northwest and Delta are gouging Sioux Falls. I prefer to fly from my home airport, and I am willing to pay a little extra to do so. But this is ridiculous.

I then researched fares for the same flight out of Omaha, a three hour drive from here. I know that Southwest Airlines (which is not included in Orbitz listings) has routes into Omaha, and have always heard its influence is profound. Judging by what I see, I totally agree.

I checked the Southwest website to confirm what I suspected. Southwest’s price for the same route on the same day is so low that Northwest/Delta matches it, seemingly for competitive reasons.

Actually, the final price is not the same. I need to check two pieces of luggage, a simple act that would cost me 40 dollars in fees from Northwest/Delta. Two pieces of luggage are free on Southwest, so you can guess which airline I booked, even though it means a three hour drive to Omaha just to get on a plane.

One would expect more and more travelers will make the pilgrimage down I-29 to use the Omaha airport instead of Sioux Falls. As a former Northwest silver elite frequent flier based in Sioux Falls, I am sad to see it happen. But the new, merged, more expensive airline is forcing travelers to do it.

Postscript: Rather than booking a one-way ticket, I found it is more “affordable” to buy a roundtrip ticket from Sioux Falls-Norfolk for $497. But the point stands – even that is three hundred dollars higher than driving to Omaha – and that’s before you factor in the checked luggage fees.