ipeirotis

I am looking at seat availability for the SFO-JFK flights from Jan 24th to Jan 30th. I check ExpertFlyer for all the direct flights and I see all flights for the SFO-JFK leg being "J9 C0 D0 I0 Z0" or with J4, J0, etc but with 0 availability for C, D, I, Z.

The prices are also sky-high, with a business class ticket being in the $5000 range. I would have attributed that to increased demand, but the seating charts show rather empty business class seating. Also the flights from JFK to SFO show the regular, expected availability across fare classes.

Interestingly enough, this lack of C,D,I,Z fare availability extends from Jan-24 to Feb-2. After that, the fare availability becomes again normal.

Any idea of what might be going on? Is Delta testing some new pricing scheme? I thought that it may be the deployment of the new flat-bed planes on the route, but this would also mean that the fare availability would be restricted on the JFK-SFO part as well, right?

Ti22

Might be super bowl related? Once RM (revenue management) wakes up and realizes SF is out of the big game fares might come back to reality? Or, maybe enough high rollers take those seats anyway?

woodenshoe101

Even though the Niners did not make it, SuperBowl is probably driving this?

lbcnu

I see $3875 in J for those dates.

ipeirotis

I cannot get this for two direct flights. Only if I have a connection. What dates are you trying?

roknroll

It's the SuperBowl driving the prices.

ipeirotis

Indeed, it seems to be Super Bowl related. Same behavior for the fare availability for the LAX->NYC, SEA->NYC, SLC->NYC, and to a lesser degree for MSP->NYC.

Interestingly, this does not affect at all the availability of economy fares. I am surprised that there (is an expectation that) there are so many people willing to fly and pay full-price business to see a Super Bowl game, but not the same expectation for economy seats.