There are a lot of elements that go into the price of a flight, from staff costs to government fees to landing gate charges at airports. One big variable—and the ones most airlines use to justify all kinds of add-ons and extras—is the price of fuel. Well how much does it really cost to carry each passenger a thousand miles through the air?

Spirit Air is doing its best to figure that out and share it with its customers. It has published a handy dandy chart showing how much it costs them in fuel to go a certain range of distance. You can see the full breakdown at this link, but here are a few examples:

• A short hop of 400 to 599 miles costs them $21.67 at current fuel rates
• Going 800 to 999 miles is a shade over $30
• Their longest hauls of 2000+ miles costs $78 per passenger in fuel

So to put that in real terms, for Ft. Lauderdale to Cancun, fuel is only around $22. Flying all the way to Lima from there, fuel is more than $78 per passenger. All these rates assume an 80% load factor, so if the flight is jammed full the actual cost per person would be a bit less. I’m not sure how cargo is figured in. And what if my seatmate weighs twice as much as I do? Should those who can’t fit in a regular airline seat multiply by two?

Think about this next time you see a $300 “fuel surcharge” on your legacy airline flight to Europe. Where’s that money really going? Why isn’t it just included in the price of the ticket?

When you see these fuel prices though, it makes Spirit’s cheap fares look even better, especially if you’re part of that $9 fare club. If you can snag one of those rates, you are flying for less than the cost of the fuel, never mind all the other costs the airline bears. So smile when you pay that checked baggage fee or a swipe your credit card for a cup of coffee in the air. Chances are those fees might not even get you back to even.

If you just want to get from point A to point B and have plenty of cash left over for spending after arrival, Spirit Air serves many Latin American destinations besides Cancun and Lima. They’ll get you to Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, and four locations in Colombia.

More on airlines serving Latin America. Thanks to SmarterTravel for the original post on this.

The Leading Hotels of the World just put out its new directory for 2010 and it includes four new hotels in Latin America. Fortunately for you, we’ve got reviews of three of them.

Banyan Tree Mayakoba, Riviera Maya, Mexico (pictured above)

Grand Velas All Suites & Spa Resort, Riviera Maya, Mexico

Bristol Buenaventura, Buenaventua, Panama

I don’t always agree with which hotels they sign up as “leading” and the fact that it’s a paid membership program can skew the results. I’m skeptical about the fourth new one—Tivoli São Paulo Mofarrej—but overall the group is pretty good at including large hotels with plenty of amenities and a good reputation for service. We’ll keep an eye on the Tivoli to see if it’s worth adding to our reviews now that it’s gone through a renovation.

See the full list at LHW.com.

A few notable travel-related news bites from around the Americas…

- Honduras situation resolved…sort of. The U.S. dropped Honduras from its travel advisory after recent elections had a good turnout and went peacefully. Unfortunately, that’s still not the end of it since most governments are not recognizing the new leader as legit and the kicked-out former president is still holed up in the Brazilian embassy. Bottom line though, traveling there should not be affected while this is worked out and places where tourists spend any time, like Roatan and Copan, were never impacted much to start with.

- Speaking of Honduras, lovely Pico Bonito Lodge is offering a 2-for-1 special through January 3.

- We recently reviewed the new Bristol Buenaventura hotel, but parts of it were still under construction at opening. Tomorrow the spa officially opens.

- During the annual World Travel Market  held  in London, the members of LATA (Latin American Travel Association) chose Awasi as the Best Boutique Hotel in Latin America, for the second consecutive year. Awasi is located in the Atacama region of Chile.

- Argentina is once again threatening to impose a reciprocal visa fee ($131 for Americans) for foreigners landing in Buenos Aires by air. Each time they have announced this in the past it has been struck down, presumably because the massively important ourism industry would take a huge hit if it goes into motion, right during a worldwide recession that is especially affecting Argentina. We’ll see if common sense prevails again or if Argentina follows the path of countries that receive fewer North American visitors, like Brazil and Bolivia.

There’s apparently something in the water in Central America that inspires their tourism boards to latch onto silly and meaningless slogans like a birdwatcher reaching for binoculars. The latest one to earn guffaws and ridicule is Panama’s, which is a year old but just got pilloried by this Jaunted post: Panama Picks A Tourism Slogan Reminiscent Of Childhood Trauma, STDs.

What is this inspired tourism slogan? “Panama – It Will Never Leave You.”

Could it be any worse? Panama watchers are having a heyday with this one, wondering whether it refers to malaria, dengue fever, stalkers, or something picked up from a prostitute. That’s one way to get honest feedback I guess. Just put out your new slogan and see how many people make fun of it on blogs and twitter. (If nobody does, it probably means your slogan is just boring, since few of these things seem to actually move the needle in terms of visitors anyway. But better to be boring than a laughing stock.)

Back in 2006, Guatemala launched the focus-group-inspired slogan “Soul of the Earth” and they’ve stuck with it ever since. WTF?! I don’t even know what that is supposed to mean, much less how it applies to Guatemala and not any of its neighbors. Will there be shamans and chanting involved? Or spelunking? Will I feel the ground vibrate during the summer solstice?

Honduras appears to have used three slogans in as many years. I’ve got a hat a local tourism person gave me with the Spanish version of their slogan “One small country, three big worlds.” I put this into an article I wrote for another publication after I returned from there because I thought it nicely summed up the answer to the inevitable question, “Why go there?” You go because you’ve got a great Maya ruins site, nature preserves, and the coral-fringed islands. So the slogan actually means something.

Alas, I then got a wrist slapping from a PR and advertising agency person who had worked with me setting up part of my research there. Apparently her agency had spent tons of money on focus groups and reports to come up with a brand new slogan: “The Central America you know — the country you’ll love.”

Again, are you kidding me? You could slap that same tag line onto Costa Rica, Guatemala, or Panama and nobody would know the difference. That slogan is still up on the agency-built website, but there was yet another one in between those two for a brief time: “It’s All Here In Honduras.” Apparently it wasn’t all there after all. But now Honduras really is looking like “the Central America you know,” coup d’etats and all.

El Salvador and Nicaragua both go for a one-word slogan. Nicaragua’s is simply, “Unique.” El Salvador went for “Impressive!” Well, the waves are impressively grarly in El Salvador I guess and Nicaragua is unique in being the poorest mainland country in the Americas, but neither slogan does much to sell the destination or paint a picture of why anyone should visit. How about just saying, “We’re generic”? Or “You’ll probably have a good time if you come here on vacation.” Pretty much the same thing.

Belize has “Mother Nature’s best-kept secret.” Maybe Mother Nature’s best-kept secret is that the soul of the Earth is actually in Guatemala. And Belize isn’t exactly a secret anymore. But really, at least that one at least doesn’t leave you scratching your head.

So are there any Central American destination slogans that really work? Yes one, and it’s no coincidence that it’s from the country that gets the most tourists by far.

“Costa Rica: no artificial ingredients.”

Nicely played Ticos.

My September issue of International Living arrived in the mail a couple weeks ago and this is the one that has their annual ranking of the Top Retirement Havens in the world. As usual, Latin America dominates the rankings, with 4 of the top 5 and 7 of the top 10.

A list like this is always going to be a bit subjective, but they take into account 8 different factors when tallying up the scores, like special benefits, cost of living, infrastructure, and safety, for example.

At the top this year was Ecuador, combining bargain prices with an excellent climate and a good quality of life. Beaches, mountains, jungles, and the U.S. dollar as the currency—what’s not to like? See our Ecuador luxury travel section for more on this attractive country.

Next up was Mexico, where I probably spend more of my time than anywhere else. Besides it being close and easy to get to, the country has an excellent variety of real estate options, a decent health care system, good roads, and a reasonable cost of living outside a few gringo hotspots. See more in our Mexico luxury travel section.

Panama and Uruguay were the next two in line, edging out Italy at #5. See stories on both in our Latin America real estate section.

Other Latin American countries making the top-10 in this retirement index were Brazil (good beachfront prices), Argentina (still good deals on Buenos Aires apartments and Mendoza vineyards), and Costa Rica.

Belize, Chile, Nicaragua, Colombia, and Honduras were further down the list, but remember that there’s only one list that really matters when it’s time to buy: yours.