Odd Discrepancy In Delta Pricing
Sep 27, 2016, 3:55 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2016
Posts: 7
Odd Discrepancy In Delta Pricing
Hi everyone, I'm new here and I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but if anyone has an answer I'd love to hear it!
Today I clicked on a google flights ad for a cheap round trip flight from Seattle (SEA) to Algiers (ALG). It consisted of 2 legs, a Delta flight to Paris (CDG) and an Air France Connector to ALG. The total business class price came to $4,370 if booked with Air France, and $6,990 if booked with Delta. I thought that it seemed cheap, so I checked the first leg only (SEA to CDG) and it came to $8,709, same class, same flight exactly, and the price was shared between both Delta and Air France. So my question is this, how does the cost effectively double when the second leg is removed?
Thanks in advance for any responses!
Today I clicked on a google flights ad for a cheap round trip flight from Seattle (SEA) to Algiers (ALG). It consisted of 2 legs, a Delta flight to Paris (CDG) and an Air France Connector to ALG. The total business class price came to $4,370 if booked with Air France, and $6,990 if booked with Delta. I thought that it seemed cheap, so I checked the first leg only (SEA to CDG) and it came to $8,709, same class, same flight exactly, and the price was shared between both Delta and Air France. So my question is this, how does the cost effectively double when the second leg is removed?
Thanks in advance for any responses!
Sep 27, 2016, 4:29 pm
#2
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This is nothing new, direct flights to/from hubs tend to be pricier, as opposed to non hubs. Suggest you search the term "hidden city booking". People book itineraries like that and drop the last segment. I don't recommend doing that as airlines frown upon that.
Sep 27, 2016, 4:52 pm
#3
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Why? Because almost nobody wants to travel from Seattle to Algiers, but plenty want to travel to Paris. The airline wants to capture both the long haul and short haul flight to support its route infrastructure so give a lower price for the less demanded route. Simple economics.
Sep 27, 2016, 7:18 pm
#4
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Why? Because almost nobody wants to travel from Seattle to Algiers, but plenty want to travel to Paris. The airline wants to capture both the long haul and short haul flight to support its route infrastructure so give a lower price for the less demanded route. Simple economics.
Sep 27, 2016, 7:31 pm
#5
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SEA-CDG is not the same market as SEA-ALG. if you wan't to go to Paris, Algiers isn't a close substitute.
Sep 27, 2016, 8:06 pm
#6
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As noted by others this is fairly common. You can find these discrepancies pretty often on LAX - JFK - Caribbean Island where that price in J/F is much cheaper than LAX - JFK.
You also are running into the impact of codeshare. For whatever reason, AF has decided they need to discount their allotment of J seats on that city pair whereas DL is confident that the current price is appropriate.
You also are running into the impact of codeshare. For whatever reason, AF has decided they need to discount their allotment of J seats on that city pair whereas DL is confident that the current price is appropriate.