Sky-High International Airfares = Sheer Torture for Expatriate Families

I'm pretty depressed right now... In fact, this issue has upset me for a while.*

Once upon a time, it was possible to find round-trip plane tickets to Brazil for under 500 dollars (rare, but possible!). Then... the cheapest rates went up a bit to about U$ 700 and now... one cannot go for less than 1,200!!

Last time I flew to Brazil in December 2009, I had to pay U$ 1,100, but that was because I had to choose my flight based on the award travel (mileage) tickets that I was able to reserve for the boys. K & my BIL's family flew for much less on AirMexico (U$ 600 each, maybe?). This time, we may again have enough miles  for two tickets (60,000 per ticket as opposed to 50K in the past) and it turns out that the one ticket we will have to pay for so the boys and I can travel together will cost about U$ 1,600!!!!! Isn't that insane? And who knows what K will pay for his airfare, since he'll be going later and in the high season (July).

If the boys could travel by themselves, I'd send them alone with the award travel tickets and try to find a cheaper ticket for me on the same days -- that's not worth it, though because the difference will be only 2-300 dollars.

Gone are the days in which we can afford to travel to Brazil every year... :(

* NOTE: I know that this is totally a "first world" problem and that we are truly privileged to, first, be able to live in another country and, second, be able to travel to ours once in a while. I just wish the boys could go to Brazil more often so they could keep speaking Portuguese and be in closer contact with their families' culture as well as family members, OK?