Fare Availability Question
 

Maybe a dumb question but im looking at a few flights and coming up with this:

F9 A9 Y9 B0 M0 H0 Q0 K0 L0 U0 T0

Its a LGA-PBI flight in March. According to the seat map there are a bunch of seats available, why am I only able to book a Y fare? Does DL expect this flight to fill up with the Y class tix, or is it an error, or do they release other buckets as time goes on?

What you see on the seat maps does not necessarily reflect the number of seats left for sale. Many people never choose their seat assignments until assigned by the computer system automatically, or at least until online check-in, so the seat map does not reflect SEATS SOLD, only SEATS CHOSEN. All the lower fair buckets have been sold out, however, all of those ticket holders have not made their seat selections. Make sense?

Yes, but I just checked and all other flights that day are showing the same thing...something is fishy. Is this a new pricing strategy?

How far away is the departure date?

March 26th

Delta has ten flights LGA-PBI that day, some with B, M, and H fares. If the OP will take a connection, L, U and T fares are also available.

The flights to PBI have been really high for several months. They never seemed to "bottom out" like most DL flights do at the 60-90 day point.

That being said I just booked PIT/FLL today on a U fare through MEM. PIT/DTW/PBI was available in the L bucket. So that leads me to believe that some of the seats are shaking loose to S. FL in late march.

And as a long time south Florida resident, I can tell you that fares ease up around April 1, give or take every year, but right now, if you get creative, you can find lower fares to south Florida even now, just play around with it, as suggested above.

Try this site for finding the lowest fares available, it will give you the lowest fares available on the legacy carriers for a 30 day window. (Choose MONTH LONG SEARCH for the best results, and it will allow you to narrow results to one carrier, such as DL.)

Trying to avoid connections 3Cforme.

I think im just going to have to purchase the Y fare, maybe DL's plan is working...

Did you try the ITA Software site that I recommended? It will truly be eye opening for low fares. It will just help you with the research, then you go back to DL to book.

Yes ITA rocks, a tool for any FT-er serious about MR's or just saving $$.

I love ITA!

Yes im familiar with that site, it is indeed great. Maybe im missing something but if my flight days are not flexible what benefit does it provide?

It provides an additional research tool, just like any other research tool that people use to find low fares. It also makes comparing carriers more efficient, and if you fly on a carrier which is a member of an alliance, you can fly another alliance member other than your "home carrier" and credit your flying back to your "home carrier" to save money. It also makes it easier to compare regional airports, such as FLL and PBI quickly, and it points out things like length of the layover in red, so it stands out more than it does on many of the airlines own sites, whether a long or a tight layover. I could go on and on, but if you look at this or any particular travel tool as only for a narrow use, then you will get a limited benefit from it, but if you keep an open mind, you will get much more benefit from it.