why is delta and other.....
 

Hey everyone i put this post here at delta because delta is one of the company that fly to ATL...
well my quastions is... why is delta cheap to fly from PDX to ATL or SEA-ATL cheaper then BOI-ATL? its the same about of hrs top fly but PDX and SEA ar little more hrs to fly then from BOI... why is it cheaper to fly from there? can anyone explain this is for all company that fly to ATL...

One word: competition.

Where there are lots of airlines flying between two cities (even if not non-stop), there is a lot of competition and fares will be lower. This is the case in SEA and to a lesser degree in PDX.

Where there are relatively few airlines that serve a given city, there is less competition and fares will tend to be higher. This is the case in BOI.

Where there is only one airline serving a city (called a monopoly), fares tend to be very high because the airline can charge more or less whatever they want to charge because there is no alternative airline for passengers to defect to.

I agree it is all about the city pairs, mileage has nothing to do with it. IF a LCC flies between those routes the fares will be a lot lower period.

Thats what i thought, but when i did check PDX and BOI almost 90% of the airlines that fly from PDX to ATL are the same from BOI-ATL about 90% of them are here also.... thats why i asked this quastion that i don't understand...

You will drive yourself crazy if you try to figure out the logic behind airfares. Prices may not make much sense when compared to miles flown.

It's not unusual for transcons to be significantly cheaper than, say, a flight from ATL to a small city 300 miles away.

+1. I make about 5-6 trips to BOI/yr. The same competitive airfare problem occurs for my flights to BOI where I can choose between GSO or RDU as my originating airport. The fare difference between GSO or RDU is $200-300, where the lower airfare is invariably offered at RDU due to greater competition from other airlines and LCC.

There also aren't any nonstops between ATL & BOI -- you're limited to connections (usually SLC or MSP) that can drive up the fares as availability becomes limited.

Seat capacity plays into it as well. SEA and PDX have a lot more capacity than BOI, which allows them to offer more seats at a lower price - BOI is essentially operating in a constrained environment. It also doesn't help that WN's BOI operation is predominately up and down the West Coast, which means double connects for a lot of east coast flights, which decreases their pricing power as a good chunk of people will not want to deal with a double connect.

The boldings are the so-called LCCs. Some would not say US Airways counts. Humor me.

Major airlines at BOI:
Delta
Frontier
Horizon
Southwest
United
US Airways

Major airline count: 6 - LCC count: 3 - 50%

At PDX:
Air Canada
Alaska
American
Continental
Delta
Frontier
Hawaiian
JetBlue
Southwest
United

Major airline count: 10 - LCC count: 3 - 30%

At SEA:
Aeromexico
Air Canada
Air France
AirTran
Alaska
American
Asiana
British Airways
Continental
Delta
Eva
Frontier
Hawaiian
Horizon
Icelandair
JetBlue
Korean
Lufthansa
Midwest
Southwest
United
US Airways
Virgin America

Major airline count: 23 - LCC count: 7 - 30.5%

With my totally unscientific assessment, BOI has as many LCCs as PDX but they account for 50% of the airlines at BOI. Thirty percent of the airlines at PDX and SEA are LCCs so one might think BOI should have lower fares with 50% of the airlines being LCCs.

But look at where Boise is located: 426 driving miles from SLC; 427 driving miles from PDX; 510 miles from SEA; and 421 miles from Reno.

Sorry Boise, you're stuck in the center of a wheel and your spokes are VERY long. You can either pay more to fly out of BOI or drive to another market... not very financially prudent IMHO. Even with many (for its size) LCCs the market will bear higher fares from your residents. That's the free market and not really crazy.

Although I have never been to Boise I have to conclude from its population that there are many many good reasons to live in and around Boise. Low fares for flying just isn't one of the pros. Next time an Idahoan is admiring the beautiful mountains and landscape are they thinking "I wish I could see what is on the other side of that mountain cheaply." ;) :p

Welcome to the fuzzy logic of airline pricing. If you manage to master the 1st level your next challenge would be to figure out why flying from Point A to Point B connecting at C costs less than a ticket from A to C (Non DL example: SFO - FRA in J is >$6000; SFO->FRA->TLV in J is $3,500; DL was notorious for doing this in CVG).:D

Capacity has nothing to do with it as indicated in the level 2 problem above. It is about competition and competition only.

DLP

DL is no more notorious than any other airline with this practice. Don't you want to fly A to C without having to connect? Airlines know that many are willing to pay more not to have to connect through another city. The price of the ticket is based on the demand for travel between cities A and C and not on how much it costs for the airline to get you there. There are numerous threads on FT where confused (justifiably so) fliers ask "How come LAX > ATL is $700 but LAX > JAX is $300. The first leg to JAX is that damn LAX > ATL leg ?!!?!!"

Your FRA & TLV example is exactly how to demonstrate city-pair demands. But it isn't really pertinent to the A > C via B frustration. Your example is about A > B vs. A > B > C. SFO/TLV is one market with a price demand that is much lower than SFO/FRA. FRA is a hub for one of the largest airlines in the world. TLV has El Al which is nowhere near the size of LH. How are other airlines pricing out for SFO/TLV? More? Less? Connecting cities? How does DL compare? More? Less? Pull FRA out of your mind completely. It is not a factor in pricing the demand for SFO/TLV service.

i actually seen "Lufthansa" fly to BOI about 3 times and they did show on the news do you guys know are they trying to fly here also?

oh and to fly to another airport like SLC or PDX i would pay the extra 100-200 bucks and fly from here then drive there durin winter thru mountains.... to dengerouse....

I'm guessing that Lufthansa aircraft have visited Boise only for diversions so far - either bad weather elsewhere or a medical emergency on board.

And I can absolutely, positively, without a doubt guarantee that FRA-BOI nonstop service will not happen anytime in the next 10 years, and probably never will, on LH or any other carrier.

one more thing i wanted to ask when i used to live in ATL i did buy one direct from airport from DL and they had a nonestop from ATL - BOI if i look online its not there and if you call in its not there eather.... why did Delta cancel it... because it was way bevver and time saving with nonestop......

I used to live in ATL, and now I live in SUN (Sun Valley, ID). I usually price flights out of SUN, TWF, and BOI. I fly back to ATL several times a year, and prices aren't often very cheap BOI-ATL. I've actually found some TWF-ATL flights cheaper than BOI-ATL. However, there can be fairly good deals BOI-MCO/TPA. The ATL-BOI nonstop was most likely discontinued due low demand.

BOI is not a very big market, and there isn't much demand for ATL/BOI traffic.