OverThereTooMuch

Uh, been a while since I've travelled. The $489 price has been pretty standard for this route (think I've seen it as low as $389). But $950, one way, for a midcon, with 9+ F seats still available seems a little unusual.

Saw it on multiple flights, multiple times, multiple days.

Is this the "new normal" for midcons? If yes, I don't know I could take the sticker shock of a SEA-ORL flight. Any folks noticing other routes showing similar increases?

Flying for Fun

Not sure what is going on there. I am flying LAX-GDL tomorrow. AS was asking $725 for F but once OLCI opened, it dropped to $285, an $80 upfare from Main. Still showing 9/16 unsigned with 3 pairs open & 2 on the upgrade list. As #1 , I haven't been upgraded yet.

EDIT: Just chwcked again, F back to $785, Main at $595.

James

NoLaGent

$489 is standard, and it's available on that day. The $950 is simply due to availability/fare buckets. You can get it for $159 if you want to fly out early Saturday.

This is just supply and demand on a weekend. The am flight gives you the afternoon/evening in Seattle. The pm flight gives you morning/afternoon in Chicago and the loads are heavier for those 2 flights than the one in the middle.

OverThereTooMuch

I've been flying this route for a very long time. I've NEVER seen it at those prices before, even with F almost sold out (vs the wide open availability here). Seems more than just S&D, which is why I posted.

tonei

Not sure what you’re basing this on - Expertflyer shows F1 D1 for this flight, which aligns with the “one seat remaining” message in the screenshot.

(If you’re looking at the seat map, keep in mind that some of those seats are likely not available for booking due to AS’ COVID seating restrictions - in addition to the usual unreliability of seatmaps for calculating loads)

This is also a holiday weekend, though I wouldn’t expect the Sunday morning flight to be particularly full in that case

Eastbay1K

I would expect that there has always been a published fare in that range, and there has always been availability at a lesser fare. Since the cheapies are still available on some flights, it looks like nothing more than tinkering with inventory management.

nomiiiii

In no possible world is Alaska F is worth $900 over the $59 basic economy fare, which comes with free cancellation and middle-seat blocked already.

Eastbay1K

In the world where money isn't an object, the comparison isn't between $59 and $900+, the difference is between $900 or not traveling.

Also, they'd likely rather have the seat available for sale for onward travel. Unrestricted F ORD/ANC is $978. If AS fills that last seat with a cheapie, it can't sell what some might consider to be a reasonable fare ORD/ANC in full F.

AndyKehn

Funny enough I booked this same weekend for route: ORD-SEA-PHX-SEA-ORD for a mileage run all in I for roughly 500. OP just got unlucky with the fare bucket running out.

itripreport

Booked a Friday evening ORD-SEA in first, 170 dollars for traveling late September lmao.

metallo

I've seen the same pricing phenomenon on SEA-STL and other similar routes. As other posters have mentioned, this is due to fare bucket availability.

I'd also point out advance purchase requirements -- for example, AS may have the 'I' bucket (deeply discounted First) available, but if there's a 14 or 21 day advance purchase for an 'I' fare, it won't matter that the fare bucket is available, as the system will force you to buy whatever eligible fare is left (often full unrestricted 'F' class), which may explain why you see the eye-popping full-fare F price as the only option.

In my experience with AS, to get discounted F, you generally need to purchase farther in advance than with other U.S. airlines like AA, DL, UA. AA, for example, now often has 'I' available on the day of departure, even when there's only one F seat left. On AS, you'll virtually always be paying full fare for the last seat (this is just as frustrating with award tickets, IMO, as AS will expect you to pony up 60k miles for a midcon in F).

fly747first

AS won't sell F at those rates and MVPs will end getting upgraded for free... another clueless RM team

Eastbay1K

The odds of them selling that segment as a connecting flight (i.e., to ANC) at the same $900-ish, or to FAI (at $1100-ish) is worth the risk of the seat not being sold and given as an upgrade. That is not clueless RM. We're talking about last seat availability here.

fly747first

Pre-Covid, absolutely true. Now? Pretty clueless. I have seen AS selling FLL SEA in the low $300s one-way at the last minute and the F cabin still went to MVPs (including yours truly plus several nonrevs). If they were smart they would have properly revenue managed the flight releasing a few seats at those low rates farther out to build up some but oh no they had the flight at $1569 for most of the year and then poof! Nothing sold. Connecting strategy is even more laughable on AS these days.