Airfare comparisons vs. distance

[solaris]

Question.
Recently I flew from Sarasota to Denver on United. It was a roughly 3.5 hour flight, and the fare was about $400.
Unrelated, I searched for flights from Denver to Puerto Vallarta Mexico. On United again, the nonstop flight is 3h 16m, but the fare is a whopping $904 (mid -June, low season?)

Setting aside variations due to dates or days of the week, why would two flights of about the same duration be wildly different prices? Although shorter by about 15 min, the Puerto Vallarta flight is more than double the price.

Are there political factors with international flights aside from fuel that make it so much higher? Thank you

 

[Seatacus]

Airlines will charge as much as the flying public is willing to pay.

 

[KCFlyer]

MOre demand for Puerto Vallarta. Especially if "recently" was spring break.

 

[solaris]

Ok thanks the date must have been notable - I think I selected mid June - because after checking a number of other dates, the fare was substantially lower. I was just curious.

 

[Seatacus]

Ok thanks the date must have been notable - I think I selected mid June - because after checking a number of other dates, the fare was substantially lower. I was just curious.

Try flying out of a large hub. It may be worth the drive to save a few bucks.