Driving traffic through DCA?
Aug 5, 2012, 3:30 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 755
Driving traffic through DCA?
Looking at fares for December trip south. My normal ABE-TPA trip is running 395 through PHL or CLT. (more than double last year) I have months to play the game, so no, thank you - BUT:
The website is showing $204 nearly every day to fly ABE-PHL-DCA-TPA.
So: Are they really trying to push traffic through DCA, or is this just a game to get shown higher on kayak, etc. The "sane" double connect/segment runs (ABE-PHL-CLT-TPA) are in the 500's, and I have no desire to do Dash-8-CR2-real aircraft.
Anyone from other Northeastern small airports seeing these shenanigans?
The website is showing $204 nearly every day to fly ABE-PHL-DCA-TPA.
So: Are they really trying to push traffic through DCA, or is this just a game to get shown higher on kayak, etc. The "sane" double connect/segment runs (ABE-PHL-CLT-TPA) are in the 500's, and I have no desire to do Dash-8-CR2-real aircraft.
Anyone from other Northeastern small airports seeing these shenanigans?
Aug 5, 2012, 6:34 am
#2
Join Date: Sep 2000
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Why not? Dash 8 is real flying???
Aug 5, 2012, 7:00 am
#3
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The slot swap with Delta - Delta's DCA slots to US for US' slots at LGA - led to a big expansion of flying by US at DCA. Perhaps they're having difficulty filling those flights. Differentials in pricing is one way to get passengers to prefer one routing over another.
Aug 5, 2012, 7:31 pm
#4
Join Date: Jun 2008
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For travel in December, it also means that US has a lot less than 330 days to fill the seats. New routes always temporarily mean new low bucket availability. It doesn't mean that the same will be true a year out. Depending upon OPs specific travel dates he may be competing for seats PHL-TPA with people who purchased tickets many months ago.
Aug 5, 2012, 7:37 pm
#5
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For travel in December, it also means that US has a lot less than 330 days to fill the seats. New routes always temporarily mean new low bucket availability. It doesn't mean that the same will be true a year out. Depending upon OPs specific travel dates he may be competing for seats PHL-TPA with people who purchased tickets many months ago.
Aug 5, 2012, 7:56 pm
#7
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I don't know.... I saw some strange connections when searching a flight to Dublin. If I booked AGS-CLT-LGA-PHL-DUB (and the reverse) the fare was almost $200 lower than AGS-CLT-PHL-DUB.
I thought that was odd as well.
I thought that was odd as well.
Aug 5, 2012, 7:56 pm
#8
Join Date: Sep 2000
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For travel in December, it also means that US has a lot less than 330 days to fill the seats. New routes always temporarily mean new low bucket availability. It doesn't mean that the same will be true a year out. Depending upon OPs specific travel dates he may be competing for seats PHL-TPA with people who purchased tickets many months ago.
Aug 6, 2012, 2:02 am
#9
Join Date: Mar 2002
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Posts: 4,137
In this case it likely means that the cost of buying two separate tickets AGS-LGA and LGA-DUB is cheaper than a single AGS-DUB, so the website is combining those two fares into one ticket when it is pricing that itinerary. Could be what's happening to the OP as well.
Aug 6, 2012, 8:50 am
#10
Moderator: American AAdvantage, Travel Safety/Security & Texas, FlyerTalk Evangelist
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There was a thread in the mileage run forum about deals BOS/LGA/EWR to DUB. As cedric notes, you're probably getting the lower rate through LGA, taking advantage of US matching UA.