Originally Posted by
FlyAO2
I don't understand what Delta is doing with their business class pricing. For the past year every int'l flight I need to book, Delta One is significantly more expense than AA/UA.
At first glance, you can argue Delta is able to command better pricing and they're taking advantage of it. But, the Delta Facebook group is full of people who are excited about being offered paid up Delta One upgrades for US-Europe flights for pretty cheap fees (sometimes less than $500).
I understand why they are now upselling domestic flights and jamming us on upgrades, but don't follow why you continue to charge $5000 for a NY-Europe flight (when you can get it for $3000 on another airline) and then sell upgrades for $500. If you just priced your flight reasonably, you would sell the $3000 flights
Are the other Facebook groups for AA and UA also excited about being offered $500 upgrades? Do we know that those tickets are being sold at $3000? (There's routinely BA/AA sales in the Premium Fares that drop to or below $2K after Chase/AARP discounts.) Are you only booking tickets to DL hubs? Are you incorrectly extrapolating your experience for broader DL pricing?
Just for fun, I decided to pick a random pair of dates (5/2-5/12) and plug in JFK/EWR to various European destinations. Here's what I found:
AMS: DL $3030, AA $3093, UA $3677
BCN: AA $3216, DL $3480, UA $3600
CDG: DL $2849, UA $3598, AA $3742
CPH: UA $3573, AA $3649, DL $3818
FCO: UA $3054, AA $3235, DL $3482
FRA: DL $2547, UA $2584, AA $3962
LHR: DL $2926, AA $3142, UA $3142
MAD: AA $3220, DL $3365, UA $3918
ZRH: UA $3582, DL $3601, AA $3864
This is for 2024 vs. 2023, but I don't think DL charging a $2K premium consistently is happening.
It's certainly possible that DL mispriced their J TATL tickets and are paying as a result, but this is the sort of thing that's much better analyzed with an airline by all the data (and years of evidence, and people working full time on this very thing) than people monitoring one FB group. The pricing premium you're suggesting may exist in certain cases, but I think there's some confirmation bias happening here.