I know Han really ripped Obi-Wan off, but what do you think, is the actual cost of hyperspace travel? If Han wanted to take a joyride to Alderaan from Tatooine, how much would it cost him?

Han probably passed a crazy deception barter check against Obi-Wan, and the actual cost to get to Alderaan is less than 17,000... So the 17k encompasses services rendered (avoiding Imperial Entanglements), and energy. (after all, who's gonna fly it kid?)

After that, I'm at a loss. A spacecraft uses liquid fuel with a reactor that converts fuel into sublight engines. Spacecrafts traverse hyperspace with the sublight engines on. So there's electricity, housing, fuel, for what looks like 7 days of travel (correct me if I'm wrong there, but it looks like from EotE raw, it would take 7 days to get to Alderaan).

If it adds to any speculation, hyperdrives also scale to a craft's mass, seeing as the Death Star needed 123 hyperdrives just to get to Class 4, while an X-wing has a small hyperdrive that can take it to Class 1.

I know EotE has put basically nothing on the cost of travel, so we could even consider that the Falcon could get there for just 200 credits in fuel/etc, well below 17k. I don't know. What do you guys think?

I don't think there's a set price per light year or anything for chartering a ship. It's more an issue of what the passenger can afford versus what the ship owner demands, and who needs what the most.

I imagine part of the cost is also in the inconvience of being in space for long periods of time. 7 days is a increadbly long time to spend just going A to B, so I imagine theres a fair bit of compensation (I could be doing this, so at least pay me for the time I will be spending with you) involved.

The journey probably would have cost him only the fraction of that, no values are ever stated, but anywhere between 200-5000 sounds about close enough. A lot of it also depends on effency of hyperdrives, though that is also never stated so we can't make the assumption that a hyperdrive 1 consumes X, because we see small ships with less capasity using them.

^^ Are you Richard Garriot?

Who? I am not, just the name isn't famlier to me either.

From ye olde star wars sourcebook

Cost of passage

Luxury liner. 1000 credits and up

No frills liner. 500 credits

Steerage. 100 credits

Chartered ship. 1000 credits and up

Modified by

Heavily traveled route x1

Common route x2

Rarely traveled route x3

Uncommon route x5

"You want to go where?" x?, charter only

Who? I am not, just the name isn't famlier to me either.

I think this is why he asked.

Han didn't do anything to jack the price up on the trip. Obi didn't have to foot the bill he just wanted to get to alderaan as fast as possible. Point 5 past light speed is as fast as it gets.

$100 for travel, the rest for avoiding imperial entanglements with no questions asked. Ain't like dusting crops, boy!

Alderaan is a pile of rubble! Don't go there! IT'S A TRAP!

Given that Republic Credits were not considered viable tender on Tatooine in Episode 1, and that ownership of Tatooine was largely dictated by the Hutts, it could simply have been that Obi Wan had to offer a number high enough to make redeeming those credits for something acceptable on Tatooine worthwhile because Imperial Credits were just as useless.

It appears that the Republic/Imperial credits were actually considered valuable tender.

During the Clone Wars, and even before, many of the galaxy's inhabitants were worried about the war's outcome and the effect it would have on the galactic economy. Because of this, an overwhelming majority of planets outside the Core and Inner Rim would not accept credits. These planets and regions began minting their own special currencies. In 22 BBY, the InterGalactic Banking Clan was creating new currencies at a rate of twenty per day, with the InterGalactic Currency Exchange System managing the currency.^[1]

"The Empire continued to use the credit, now called the Imperial Credit, as its main currency, and during the reign of Emperor Palpatine, there were few who would not accept it. Even the Alliance to Restore the Republic used it, along with their own Alliance Credit, as it was the most used and easiest-to-use currency in the galaxy."