ccsp69

I do not understand why it is so expensive to travel to NO. It is one of the most overrated cities in the world not just the U.S. For the flight cost to get to this backwards water of a town is more expensive than travelling overseas to Europe or Asia for that matter. Service in this city is horrible at best. Can anyone tell me why it is ok for them to justify this price?

phillychuck

Conventions? I've had two of the societies that I am active in schedule meetings there in 2014.

neuron

Big question is why would you want to go given how much you loathe it?

While passenger traffic has returned to pre-Katrina levels, flights are still down by 20%, so the planes are filled and less competition, two important factors pushing up prices.

As for your disdain for NO, I have always had a blast there. A unique city in this US' landscape - and with friendly people from my experiences.

FLYMSY

Please don't come to our "backwards water of a town" (sic) ( ) . We couldn't handle being in the presence of such a refined, erudite, high-class, discriminating, grand pooh-bah, such as yourself. It will make us realize what we've been missing all of our lives and make us feel REALLY, REALLY inferior. In fact, this UA 1K will gladly genuflect before your UA goldness and sadly shuffle off to my E- seat so that you can have all of my premium cabin seats.

Oh, BTW, just in case you weren't aware, the city DOESN'T set the airfares, as you are wont to claim in your rant.

Doc Savage

The reason? Supply and demand.

P.S. The word you are searching for is backwater. Not that it is appropriate in this context.

ccsp69

Only going due to conventions. Also the auto correct spelling feature on the phone changed that. No one is saying that the city sets the prices. But the swing is quite ridiculous no? They charge you that much just because they can? And that comment is not appropriate you are right. But apparently flymsy took it very personal when all I was asking was why.

neuron

You answered your own question! When you attend your meeting, what is the occupancy in your hotel and airplane? Supply and demand pay a factor into this. (and no the swing is not ridiculous, take a look at LV, another conference city)

A couple of other notes, if I know I am going to NO, I plan ahead and book ahead. Rates can vary quite a bit. Why? Inventory, lots of seats and rooms, the price will be cheaper. Post Katrina, this inventory did not return (hence my comment above, which you failed to still see as being a major factor). The rates I get (for planning ahead) are usually much less than colleagues who may attend meetings. phillychuck and Doc Savage said it fewer words than I, but your answer is right there!

Also, if you look at service when there are 100 people waiting for a table vs only 10 people in the restaurant, you will see a huge difference in service

As for FLYMSY, your comments were personal, so I would expect no less than someone who is local (Fly MSY @:-)) to consider your post a whinge as opposed to someone seeking answers.

BearX220

That's how the economy works. What do you do when you sell a house?

New Orleans is great, maybe the most unique and authentic city in the country, and I love visiting. (Applebee's serves a "Bourbon Street Steak," but thank God there is still no Applebee's on Bourbon Street.) If enough people feel the same that explains the tariffs.

FLYMSY

It's always a little surprising when someone comes on FlyerTalk and seems to think this is a place to primarily complain. In your grand total of 7 FT posts, you've started 2 threads comprising rants and unfounded allegations.

With regard to your statement, "all I was asking was why.", well, no, you weren't only asking "why". I suggest that you go back and slowly re-read your original post in this thread. Maybe, you'll come away enlightened as to why I consider your post a misplaced and misguided rant lacking any credibility. For one, You have a proclivity for using the all encompassing and amorphous "they". Please clarify exactly who the "they" are that you are referring to.

I have some questions for you, ccsp69. How many times have you been to New Orleans in 2014? How many times post-Katrina? How many times pre-Katrina? And, just exactly, where do you live? Looking forward to your responses.

ChevyCruze

I would have to agree with FLYMSY. NO is a great city! Yes, during the football season and particularly around the Sugar Bowl game, the rates are a little higher than normal, but if you do a little research and book early, it isn't that expensive in general. Yes, the taxes on your hotel room are pretty high, but so is any convention or touristy city. I've spent numerous weekends in NOLA over the last 20 years, since I have relatives up the road in BTR, and have enjoyed every trip. Always find something new or unique to the last visit.

Blumie

I've been traveling to New Orleans for over 25 years -- probably more than 50 trips during that period -- because it's one of my favorite cities in the world. And the reason why prices in New Orleans have crept up over the years is because a lot of other people agree, and thus the demand for flights, hotel rooms, and restaurant reservations has soared over this period. Economics 101: when demand increases, prices increase. If you just visit New Orleans to attend conventions, I guarantee you that you don't know New Orleans. But regardless, if you don't like it, stay away. Problem solved.

ASDwxguy

As others stated, it all comes down to supply and demand. Currently, there is not enough supply to meet the demand. This is true not only with the number of seats flying through MSY, but also with the number of hotel rooms available in the city. There is a hotel boom going on now with several hundred rooms coming online in the next few months. Some of the new hotel properties coming are Aloft, Hyatt Place, Ace, and AC. Several current properties have expanded or about to expand as well.

Most of the airline routes out of the city are averaging 80%+ load factors through the first 6 months of the year. Thus, the airlines can charge a premium to fly here.

To the op, sorry that you dislike our fair city. You can always skip the convention this year if you have such strong misgivings about travelling here.

ccsp69

Let me elaborate. Have been to N.O. 4 times now 1 pre and 3 post. I in fact really like the it for the most part, especially the mom and pop places are very charming and have great staff and service. The issue I am having are with the hotel chains and some of the big named restaurants that are there that I have had bad service not just once but even when I try to go again and give it another shot the service does not change. So now I figure I stay away from those places.
Like ASDwxguy was stating maybe that is why the service is no good if they are launching several hundred rooms in the near future. That makes sense thanks for the info.
To flymsy you can keep you 1k because my 1k will work just fine. And I live in a little place called Chicago.

neuron

Do yourself a favor and take a look at the Thread title you created and the first post you made. This one is very different in complaint. So now you claim the local run places are good, but its the hotel chain and big restaurants that give bad service. I guess that never happens in ORD or NYC. Would you call them 'backwards water of a town' - or the proper term - backwater? I can tell you from experience that my hotel stays in MSY have been great and much better than times I have used NYC hotels, with the exception of great stays in NYC Andaz, Hyatt and W hotels.

Your complaint really is quite superficial now that you have pointed out YOU HAVE HAD GREAT SERVICE IN MSY AND given you should have already known the answer, but I am glad that you finally got it after ADwxguy's post re: the supply and demand issue (not that I and others had not already stated it). Try not to label things with such dramatic and extreme characterizations, when you really want to criticize a couple of hotels and restaurants.

FLYMSY

So, you're claiming that the "flight cost" to get from Chicago to "this backwards water of a town" (New Orleans) is more expensive than the "flight cost" to go from Chicago to Europe or Asia!

Engage much in hyperbole?

Please enlighten us backwards people with the data to support your outlandish claim about the differences in flight costs. In other words, where's your proof? I checked the flight costs between ORD and MSY, and I find flights less than $300 on UA. Please give us the city pairs with ORD to Europe & Asia with a flight cost less than $300. I'm sure all of us would like to jump on those fares, also. When you make such overblown claims, is it really difficult to see why your posts lack credibility?

What is even more disconcerting is that, in your original post, you painted with such a broad brush that you condemned an entire city with your misrepresentations. I can't figure out if you are intentionally refusing to acknowledge your unfounded allegations or, if you are incapable of understanding that you did so.

I'll reiterate something I wrote earlier. When you started this thread, you had a grand total of FIVE posts on FlyerTalk. Prior to this thread, you had started a thread in another forum that comprised a rant with misplaced allegations. To sum up, FIVE total FlyerTalk posts in which you started TWO threads that were rants which were not based on fact. Not a very auspicious beginning.