Q. I was wondering if you knew what the deal is with airlines charging twice as much for the same routes when flying from the US to Europe. I just scored a great price to Florida from Geneva, Switzerland this March ($616) so decided to do a search to see how much it would cost for my father to make a trip here in June. Surprisingly, a Bay City, Michigan to Geneva, Switzerland return trip leaving June 8, 2009 is a little over $1400 according to Kayak.com, however the same routes, same dates, same airline, going in the other direction (Geneva to Bay City) is almost half the price, $749. What gives? Any thoughts?

A. Until we truly have a global economy, prices will always vary from country to countr, depending on the comparative value of currency and local economies. It's similar to when folks from one country flock to another to stock up on luxury goods for half the price they'd find at home. The same applies to airfares.