Do airline ticket prices make any sense to any of you?!?

About two weeks ago my wife was in Vegas and I had a ticket for Thurs. night. The big storm was coming and she said on Sunday try and change your ticket and beat the storm out. Well the chepest I could get after turning in my old ticket was 1,299 dollars and that was to Ca. then catch a shuttle to Vegas. I was willing to spend a few hundred, but I guess the airlines would rather fly with empty seats. Barry