Of all the many grievances air travelers harbor against the airlines, perhaps ticket prices shouldn’t be among them.

According to the DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ latest airfare survey, inflation-adjusted prices for domestic airfare reached their lowest point since 2010 in the 4th quarter of 2015 (the latest available data).

The average domestic airfare decreased to $363 in the fourth quarter of 2015, down 8.3 percent from $396 in the fourth quarter of 2014, falling to the lowest level since 2010, adjusted for inflation.

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For the full year, ticket prices averaged $377 for 2015, down 3.8 percent from the 2014 average, and down 19.2 percent from the 2000 average of $467, the highest since the BTS began keeping records.

Since 1995, inflation-adjusted fares have declined by 10.8 percent.

Complicating Considerations

Falling prices are always good news. But the cheery storyline is complicated by other considerations.

First, with the price of jet fuel in freefall during the past few years, consumers would naturally expect the cost of air travel to fall as well. And given the airlines’ recent string of outsized profits, it’s apparent that much of the cost savings from lower fuel costs hasn’t been passed along to consumers.

There’s also a problem with the BTS data underlying their cost comparisons. The ticket prices tracked over time include the published fare, plus “any additional taxes and fees levied by an outside entity at the time of purchase.” What’s missing, of course, are the so-called ancillary fees increasingly charged by the airlines for checked bags, reserved seating, and the like. So as the airlines derive ever more of their revenue from such fees, the base ticket price is an ever-less accurate representation of the real cost of air travel.

Bottom line: Some of the purported savings are illusory. And what savings there are are less than they might be if the airline industry were less consolidated, more competitive.

Reader Reality Check

Do you feel you’re getting good value for your travel dollar?

After 20 years working in the travel industry, and almost that long writing about it, Tim Winship knows a thing or two about travel. Follow him on Twitter @twinship.

This article first appeared on SmarterTravel.com, where Tim is Editor-at-Large.