Airlines must be held to account for their blatant price gouging whenever our footy clubs get even close to contending for a premiership.

It is so predictable that flights during grand final were going to surge if Fremantle had a winning start to the season that I started monitoring them from the moment the Dockers beat Adelaide on April 3.

Sure enough, they’d increased dramatically by the time they won the derby and now are more than $1000 after winning a historic seven games in a row.

Fremantle and West Coast fans shouldn’t constantly have to stress about how they are going to pay to watch their team in Victoria if they become successful.

The Dockers are a bloody good team right now. So if you know flight prices are going to continue going up, do you book flights for grand final week now despite knowing how little needs to go wrong for a season to be torn apart? Or do you wait until you have certainty - which will be one week before the grand final - and pay even more exorbitant prices? It’s a lose-lose situation.

There’s no justification for flights costing over $1000 from Perth to Melbourne..

I’m flying to America next month for the FIFA World Cup. Seats on my flight from Sydney to LA with Qantas are currently $681.

I booked a Virgin flight to Melbourne for round one just days after the AFL fixture was released in November. Those return flights cost me $432.. The same flights in grand final week would be $1863. Seriously!

My daughter recently purchased flights to Melbourne for later this month. She bought them only six weeks in advance and we all know fuel prices are higher than when I booked for round one. She paid $904 for her return flights. Flying at almost the same times around the grand final (the exact times aren’t an option) are currently $1722.

The AFL is a national competition with a grand final that is contractually required to be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Four of the top six teams are from currently outside of Victoria which means the odds are that at least one group of supporters will be travelling.. There hasn’t been a grand final at the MCG involving two Victorian teams since 2011.

But the costs from both Sydney and Brisbane to Victoria during grand final week aren’t out of control -yet. Right now it’s only WA fans that are facing harsh financial realities.

Dockers fans should be allowed to enjoy every minute of this brilliant start to the season instead of stressing about how they will be able to enjoy September if their team keeps winning.