pdh719

I'm checking fares over a month out and keep coming up with $700+.
These are typically overnight stays that have cost around $450 in the past.
Any idea why this happening, and how to get around it?
I have to book through Orbitz and they keep showing Spirit as an option around $200.
I really want to stick with AA

gemac

1

I don't know what you're doing, since you choose not to give us any details. I found $233.60 round-trip pretty easily. Out April 17, back April 21.

pdh719

Sorry about that!
I'm trying monday ORD departures with Tuesday returns from DFW in may and june on the Orbitz site and listing flight times as "anytime"

gemac

Lowest fares have a 3-day minimum stay. For a one-day stay I found (on AA.com) $421.20 as the best fare outbound May 7 return May 8. Connect in STL each way. Nonstops are more expensive.

The fare I cited is constructed by adding together a ORD-STL-ORD fare and a STL-DFW-STL fare.

Often1

Welcome to the world of:
1. Hub-to-Hub
2. Capacity cuts
3. More busienss flyers who want the same seats as you

Your best options are: 1) fly through another non-hub; 2) off-hours. That may not work for your business schedule and that's why fares are high.

Forget Spirit.

aktchi

Consider Southwest from Chicago Midway to Dallas Love Field.
Outbound 5/28 - return 5/29, total fare $235.
Similarly for 6/4-6/5, and 6/25-6/26.

Many other Monday-Tuesday pairs are a little more, but still cheaper than AA.

Good luck!

Added Later: Like you, I too am an AA person and can feel the conflict you may be experiencing. The approach I find best is to decide, in advance if possible to avoid impulse decisions, how much premium I am willing to pay for AA. This could be a dollar figure or percentage; could depend on tangible criteria like how many EQM/RDM I need, or just what I feel comfortable with. This is a business relationship and should be treated as such; don't forget that AA would choose another pax over you in less than a heartbeat if they were willing to pay more.

janetdoe

1. Avios points - you could buy them straight out from BA and still save money at those prices. I think it's 7500 miles each way, as long as there is MilesSaaver availability.

2. I snagged some $75 each way at a sale a few weeks ago, but yeah, in general the fares are very high compared to the length of the flight.

3. @atkchi - I had no idea WN was competitive on this route - usually they are crazy expensive for anything out of DFW. Lesson learned.

aktchi

As you know, this is crazy business with few reliable rules. Sometimes WN has the best deal, but other times not. I have learned to check all sources each time.

Speaking of lessons learned, I learned one long ago, and not cheaply. When I was a graduate student, and not air travel savvy like today's students, I thought I only needed to find one good honest TA who'd then value a repeat regular customer like me and always find the best US-India deals for me. I did find a nice and competent TA after much comparison shopping among just about all TA's serving that market and, based on my "business model", stopped comparison shopping after that---pre-Internet, comparison shopping by phone or in person used to be more work---and just kept going to him. He was always friendly, swapped personal stories in Hindi, and never failed to offer tea+cookies! These visits were enjoyable but later I calculated that on the average each had cost me ~$100. So, I did learn to check all sources each time.