bubbashow

Oh for the love of everything holy. Another thread with anecdotal evidence. One person can't get a cheap DL fare on the date/time/specific flight they want to fly and suddenly DL is flying empty planes.

Yes....it is actually a secret plan to have them empty. That is the only way that Shena can guarantee that all of the NRSAs can sit in Business Elite.

DL is a mega corporation with years of data mining. I will hold that at a higher position than someone visiting Kayak looking for a cheap trip to XXXX

troyintn

I ten to think it is more of a website issue as others have posted. I have started to see the same thing even with some domestic routes where it picks weird combinations that are higher then an agent can do, on the same flights.

exwannabe

+1

I would guess it comes down to DL having a more optimistic view of summer TATL loads. So they do not want to sell cheap tickets.

The final answer will not be known until late spring. If DL is wrong, they will have to use sales to fill the seats. If DL is right, they make more money.

rylan

DL just doesn't want those cheap fares. They are going to keep them higher to get pax who book closer in after the cheap seats sell on other airlines. They definitely want your money, but only if you spend a lot.

TrojanTraveler

I find your post interesting. Have you done this more than once? Did they say they were "doing you a favor" (hard to believe they would), or was the fare there and the systems were having trouble accessing it?

I find DL more expensive on many routes, yet I pay the extra for a number of reasons, especially maintaining loyalty perks (e.g. upgrades). It would be very interesting if they are actually matching some lower fares, but their system issues prevent anyone from accessing them.

brocklee9000

I seem to remember a thread last week where someone was looking for either TATL or TPAC flights in advance, and only seeing pricey M+ fares available, and there were several comments about DL testing the market, or holding back cheaper fares until a time when they think that the touristy types (or cheap types, like me) will be looking. So I still say: who knows???

TrojanTraveler

Not so much anymore.

But you do have to admit that your thread title is just a bit absurd.

Dieuwer

Seat maps are not a good indicator of loads.
In fact, not too long ago I checked seats maps on different sites for exactly the same flight and they all showed different amounts of seats available.

If you think the price is too high but are adamant to fly DL anyway, there is but one solution: check out the TrickIt thread.

jer

OK, my thread title was not well worded and I apologize. I meant it to be tongue in cheek but apparently it did not come off as I intended. Of course I do not believe DL will fly empty planes across the Atlantic. Is it possible for me to modify my thread title?

Nevertheless, I did mean to ask a genuine question. Let me try again.

I have noted that DL fares are significantly (50-75%) higher than the market for three separate itins I am pricing for this summer. I realize this is anecdotal. But it raises the question of their logic behind the pricing strategy in regards to my city pairs and dates, and I appreciate those who have discussed what that might be. My question then, is do you believe that this pricing strategy will work for Delta? I really am genuinely curious.

I hope this is a suitable topic for discussion here If not, I apologize again, and would ask that a mod close the thread.

knit-in

Hilarious!

knit-in

In my experience, flights from NYC-BOM sometimes price out cheaper than NYC-AMS, where one segment en route to BOM is on the NYC-AMS flight. Basic principles of demand, supply and competition are at work here.

Now, it doesn't specifically answer your question, but the point is that, while to the uninitiated mind this must seem illogical, just like your example, there are marketing and economic factors at play that can't be explained specifically in every instance.

dd1612

They did me no favor. It has happened twice now in the last 30-35 days.
Once for a BE Z fare and once for a discounted coach X fare.

When I called and stated that I was unable to book the fare being displayed,
the CS agent was extremely nice, courteous & professional.
She apologized saying that many times the DL website can have problems. I told her I prefer booking online, preferring not to waste the precious time of an agent that maybe used to help someone else in more need. But as I was having a problem making this reservation, could she please check the itinerary ... gave it to her sector by sector and date wise ... and the fare popped up on her screen that matched the fare I was seeing elsewhere.

Each time it took less than 2-3 minutes to do the transaction.
Of course Delta does have all my details ... and my CC.

Regarding your comment:
1. "I find DL more expensive on many routes, yet I pay the extra for a number of reasons, especially maintaining loyalty perks (e.g. upgrades).

Yes,Delta is more expensive on many routes ... but I would rather pay and travel Delta as I have been either with DL or NWA since 94.

2. "It would be very interesting if they are actually matching some lower fares, but their system issues prevent anyone from accessing them"

We all know DL.com is bad ... and I try and book on Delta.com, if I fail to do so, I have no hesitation in calling CS.
This is a new problem, surely their IT folks will rectify it once they have fixed the other problems, eh?

cdubose98

It is likely a case of DL just picking its battles based on classified data. Recently I've been investigating one-way routings from PVG to ATL for a friend of mine, with a stopover along the way. Stopping basically anywhere in the US was at least $2000 on DL. But YVR? Easily the cheapest of any airline at $841. Mind you, this is for travel in early August.

My guess is that if you play around some more with your routings, you will find somereal bargains on DL.

sethb

This is interesting. For some flights I'm planning, the airfare seems high ($1400 round trip to UK, with open jaw). But: adding the connecting flight (two flights via AMS) costs about $50; buying it alone is GBP 200.

And then, delta.com (logged in or not) costs less than kayak costs less than orbitz, and neither of the latter two found the flights I prefer at all (I want a 4 hour layover in AMS so I can go into Amsterdam to buy chocolate).

The major annoyance with delta.com is that, even though I ask for flights by fare, it won't show the fare until I finish booking. (I also can't get classes below T even though ExpertFlyer says they're available.)

The one-way return flight (LHR-JFK) costs almost as much by itself as the full itinerary. (GBP 800, around $1335)

atrich

I think this just comes down to dl.com's search (even by low fare) really sucking. All airline pricing algorithms are time-bound, the search space is nearly infinite, so they just give the best result they can in 100ms or whatever time they feel like.

If you can find a delta fare on an OTA (or matrix) that you like, you can typically squeeze that fare out of dl.com. The multicity tool and being really picky about departure times usually constrains the search space enough to get it to work.

I've also noticed on occasion that it calculates the fare wrong when picking legs (select them by flight number) but the right price will show up on the final booking screen.

Having said all that: I was booking SEA-BCN recently and could NOT get dl.com to show me a particular option for JFK-BCN that was easily showing up on matrix and orbitz. Instead it kept offering me a TATL KLM codeshare. I ended up booking it through Orbitz. Hooray for more anecdotal evidence!

Honestly, I think there may be some kind of bug in their search engine. Hanlon's Razor: do not attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.