Originally Posted by
SoCalFlyer23
(My last mid-week advance-purchase RT to spend a week there was $500!)
That's not a particularly high transcon fare, as has been pointed out.
Originally Posted by
wetrat0
The fact that this is happening with the OP's flight signals it is probably heavily leisure and VFR (like the OP, apparently). They would not do this kind of on-again, off-again, if it were a high-yielding business route. Apparently, the flight in question turns as a red-eye, which also tends to attract low-yield passengers.
Exactly my point. Paring some of the marginal service (in terms of profits) away during lower-demand periods is what smart airlines do (
especially when they are the only airline flying the route; it's a way to force demand into the other flights). The "idiots" would keep running it: "We're losing money on every flight but we make it up in volume!"