Price of a non-stop airline ticket between New York and London

It is perplexing and confusing the pricing model adopted by airlines when flying internationally as compared with flying cross country. Based on distance, I would have expected the price of a round trip ticket from New York to London to be less than double the price of a round trip ticket between New York and Los Angeles, during the summer months.

Basis for comparison

I spent a bit of time searching for non-stop flight ticket prices, and dates that would suit my schedule, and was surprised at the price difference of domestic versus international flights. For New York to Los Angeles, the average round trip ticket price is about $480.

Price unrelated to distance

The cost of flying internationally would seem unrelated to distance. The ticket prices from the major carriers to London are very similar. It cost about $1,400 for a non-stop round trip ticket. It appears they adopt comparable pricing models for similar routes independent of aircraft.

Three times the distance and a Third less the price

If I now decided instead to visit a friend in Sydney Australia for winter, a distance of about 9938 miles (15994 km); what would be the round trip ticket price?

How is it possible to fly between New York and Sydney round trip for less than the price of a round trip ticket from New York to London? As you may be aware that New York to Sydney route is about three times the distance of New York is from London.

Cost less to travel from East to West

Another oddity, the pricing model the airlines employ takes into account direction of flight; whether the flight is from East or West across the Atlantic.

The same flight going the same distance, but going East to West can save you up to $400 off the ticket price.

Innovations around price

Flight innovations surrounding ticket pricing, seating upgrades, meal purchase, excess luggage charges and other surcharges has made it difficult to know the exact cost before the final leg of a journey.

All this while the cost of a major price component, fuel would have fallen over the last few years even while accounting for hedging. 

Time based pricing model

The Boeing 787 is an elegant and sophisticated aircraft; and if you can tolerate a switch, and a stop or two, you may want to consider carriers such as Norwegian. I know, for many, stop overs are an impractical option, and paying the higher ticket price is the only way.

It seems that less flight time is always going to cost more money for transatlantic crossings.