nebraskaboy

I’m pretty certain that Delta, like pretty much every airline and hotel chain, uses automated software (with some human inputs) to maximize pricing on every flight. Usually this is based on historical day of week, lead time, cabin occupancy, competitor pricing, and many other inputs. If they’ve already sold a few seats in the F cabin, that may explain the pricing you are seeing at this moment. Or, if they are pricing high and see no movement, the price might drop.

I also see JetBlue at a very similar price. Perhaps they are pegging more closely to their pricing on this route. We also have no idea what kind of contract seats Delta historically sells to companies at a discount on this route for your travel dates. Perhaps selling a couple of seats at this higher price will offset that discounting to maximize the overall revenue. So many factors that we’ll never know that go into this tiny snapshot of pricing.

That said, why not just buy the Alaska flight if you’re flying F anyway? You’d have all of the usual delta amenities + lounge access included!