Watercheck, your point about fares in Europe is not correct; in fact there are fares well below what would be paid in the US: Fly from Dublin to Edinburgh for One Euro plus taxes and no blockout dates, saturday night stays or advance purchases etc. Of course the taxes are sixty to seventy Euros for the same ticket, which shows a lot about just who is making the money here.
Another example is fares around $150 one-way from LA to Edinburgh, while it costs more than that just to fly from LA to SFO, given the same conditions applying to the reservation with respect to date, times and so on. If I want to fly from Anchorage to Seattle it costs me around $250 return if I book weeks ahead and leave at 0100 or later. If I want to leave at a more civilised time the cost shoots up three or four times. The 1 Euro ticket is available any time of the day, and the fare goes up only on weekends, even then it is still way less than what I have to pay in the US for a comparable ticket based on distance.
Its called supply and demand isn't it?