Originally Posted by
COTraveler123
Will be tough times for airlines then! If the U.S. is headed for recession people will cut travel spending first rapidly. Delta will have to incentivize people and business to use them again. It is odd that Delta is coming out as saying they are seeing a downturn, but not doing anything to combat this and it is only expected to get worse. Sounds like bad management at Delta. Has been nice to have open middles on recent Delta flights! Flights do seem emptier!
I have noticed fares drop very close in to the date of travel. For example on the trip I am on now, Z inventory popped up over the weekend (less than a week out). I rebooked and took a $300 eCredit (which by the way has still not showed up in my Wallet...I guess if that trend continues I'm back to keeping a COVID-era ledger of all my eCredits and certificates). I am seeing VERY cheap international flights for the next few weeks, and think that could be a bit of a lull in demand leading up to Easter. Meanwhile, some of my domestic trips for May/June pricing out cheaper than they have been since 2019.
My supposition is they are not going to lower fares too far out because they don't want to sell all their cheap inventory too soon if the situation recovers. They can always discount later on (and how much they discount to fill the seats vs. cutting capacity is part of that puzzle), but once they sell a bunch of cheap seats there is only so much they can raise prices by for the ones that remain.