As I see it the problem is not so much the cost of tickets. Villa tickets have always been relatively cheap because we have a big ground that we rarely fill even when we're doing well.
As some others have said, it's the combined cost of everything else that mounts up to make it prohibitively expensive- the travel, parking, a few beers, a feed. Many of our fans travel just as far for home games as they would for away games. You could easily be looking at 100 quid plus for a day out at the villa. I think that's the main reason why they struggle for gates in a recession.
Just a stab in the dark, but I think they'd need to lower prices at least 25-30% to even get close to capacity regularly. And with the extra income from sky and dropping the wage bill why can't they? Supporters are still paying too much in my view.
Having said all that, if I was in the uk I'd still go and the clubs know people go out of loyalty and habit even when things are tight financially