Basic Economy to Main Cabin Price Difference Increase?
Aug 12, 2017, 3:13 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 339
Basic Economy to Main Cabin Price Difference Increase?
Anybody else notice that it seems the difference in fare price between Basic Economy and Main Cabin has gone up in the past few days?
Was asked for $35 each direction to upgrade to main cabin fare from DEN-MIA (via MSP), and $25 each direction for DEN-CSG (via ATL), never have been asked for more than $15/way before on a standard route connection under 4 hours from DEN-AAA-BBB...
Seems to me DL is following UA in increasing these fare differences to me, as UA went from $15 on most of my DEN routes to $40...
from me
Hopefully just unlucky on my part, but I'm not too hopeful
Was asked for $35 each direction to upgrade to main cabin fare from DEN-MIA (via MSP), and $25 each direction for DEN-CSG (via ATL), never have been asked for more than $15/way before on a standard route connection under 4 hours from DEN-AAA-BBB...
Seems to me DL is following UA in increasing these fare differences to me, as UA went from $15 on most of my DEN routes to $40...
from meHopefully just unlucky on my part, but I'm not too hopeful
Aug 13, 2017, 9:14 am
#3
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 1,868
I hate this, particularly because Google Flights doesn't seem to have an option for me to exclude E fares. I don't actually care what the difference is, I just want an easy way to compare apples to apples. I'd rather fly WN any day than take a basic economy flight on a legacy.
Aug 13, 2017, 11:47 pm
#4
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: USA
Programs: DL Gold / AA Gold
Posts: 609
I hate this, particularly because Google Flights doesn't seem to have an option for me to exclude E fares. I don't actually care what the difference is, I just want an easy way to compare apples to apples. I'd rather fly WN any day than take a basic economy flight on a legacy.
Aug 14, 2017, 5:14 am
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2001
Programs: DL 1 million, AA 1 mil, HH lapsed Diamond, Marriott Plat
Posts: 28,190
It's easy enough to exclude Basic Economy fares from a delta.com search. It's easy enough to exclude them from ITA Matrix searches limited to Delta-coded flights, too. Use this string in the advanced controls/routing codes field:
dl+ / f ~bc=e
dl+ / f ~bc=e
Aug 14, 2017, 6:37 am
#6
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 1,868
Matrix is how I handle it as well, once I've used Google Flights for a destination. Still an irritation. I admit I almost never do my flight searches on delta.com until I pretty much already know what I'm booking.
Aug 14, 2017, 6:58 am
#7
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: DCA
Programs: UA US CO AA DL FL
Posts: 50,262
Now that all three legacies offer a Basic fare of some kind, there is competetive pricing, not only against LCC's, but other carriers.
Bear in mind that the goal isn't to sell BE as a primary fare, but to use it to sell seats which most travelers won't purchase. The more people willing to sit in the middle seat just ahead of the aft lav, the more this will be offered.
Bear in mind that the goal isn't to sell BE as a primary fare, but to use it to sell seats which most travelers won't purchase. The more people willing to sit in the middle seat just ahead of the aft lav, the more this will be offered.
Aug 18, 2017, 11:29 pm
#8
Join Date: Feb 1999
Location: Sacramento area, CA USA
Programs: UA Gold Million Miler, HH Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 2,858
I think it is an outrage that UA Million Milers cannot get a decent seat in basic economy. We were the lucky ones back when all this started in 1984. Now, it is hard to believe what they have taken away from frequent flyers. Big deal, we can bring a bag for free. I thought we would always have Mileage Plus. It was painful enough when they took away the international upgrades. My husband and I will be flying a couple of short flight in economy minus this fall. We will see....
Aug 18, 2017, 11:54 pm
#9
Join Date: May 2008
Location: NYC
Programs: DL PM; UA 1K; AA 1MM
Posts: 4,513
I hate this, particularly because Google Flights doesn't seem to have an option for me to exclude E fares. I don't actually care what the difference is, I just want an easy way to compare apples to apples. I'd rather fly WN any day than take a basic economy flight on a legacy.
A) Allow exclusion of BE fares on legacy carriers
B) Allow exclusion of ULCC carriers as a group (Allegiant, Spirit, etc)
C) Remember my default settings for these (and other) options each time I load the site so I don't have to reselect the filters.
I'm never going to buy a BE fare. I'm highly unlikely to fly Spirit, Allegiant, etc. I'm tired of having to exclude Category B manually every time I search, and not being able to exclude Category A is a nuisance.
Aug 19, 2017, 7:28 am
#10
Moderator: Hyatt; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: WAS
Programs: :rolleyes:, DL DM, Mlife Plat, Caesars Diam, Marriott Tit, UA Gold, Hyatt Glob, invol FT beta tester
Posts: 18,916
I think it is an outrage that UA Million Milers cannot get a decent seat in basic economy. We were the lucky ones back when all this started in 1984. Now, it is hard to believe what they have taken away from frequent flyers. Big deal, we can bring a bag for free. I thought we would always have Mileage Plus. It was painful enough when they took away the international upgrades. My husband and I will be flying a couple of short flight in economy minus this fall. We will see....
Just as an FYI, you posted this in the DL thread-- the UA forum has its own thread for discussing Basic Economy on UA: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...cussion-q.html
I love Google Flights, but some feature I most desperately want from them are:
A) Allow exclusion of BE fares on legacy carriers
B) Allow exclusion of ULCC carriers as a group (Allegiant, Spirit, etc)
C) Remember my default settings for these (and other) options each time I load the site so I don't have to reselect the filters.
I'm never going to buy a BE fare. I'm highly unlikely to fly Spirit, Allegiant, etc. I'm tired of having to exclude Category B manually every time I search, and not being able to exclude Category A is a nuisance.
A) Allow exclusion of BE fares on legacy carriers
B) Allow exclusion of ULCC carriers as a group (Allegiant, Spirit, etc)
C) Remember my default settings for these (and other) options each time I load the site so I don't have to reselect the filters.
I'm never going to buy a BE fare. I'm highly unlikely to fly Spirit, Allegiant, etc. I'm tired of having to exclude Category B manually every time I search, and not being able to exclude Category A is a nuisance.