CLT-LAX-CLT + one stop -- Why is DL more expensive than AA now?
 

I'm a AA flyer, who decided to fly this route regularly on DL since the fares were substantially cheaper than AA in January. So I try to book this route for Feb 8-11, or February 9 - 12, and DL was Approx $800, and AA was $400. Same goes for later Feb....in some cases DL was $100 more than AA. What gives? I was giving up on AA because of their overpriced flights, and it had reversed itself, with AA now regularly cheaper.

Often the rate variance is due to competition. Sometimes higher is due to one carrier deciding not to compete, but just get the higher fare anyways.

Assume your Delta options connect somewhere, Atlanta/

AA flights?

A: Supply and Demand

Why wouldn't DL charge more if customers are willing to pay it?

There must be 1,000+ threads just like this, comparing two stations and two carriers and two price shifts.

Supply & demand and two carriers' differing strategies. AA may not be selling CLT-LAX so much as a hub, but rather O&D, so it's chopping its prices to see if it can make that work a bit better. If that won't work, it will start axing service until capacity cuts bring prices back up. Then DL will follow suit.

If you fly this route regularly, just purchase the best deal for your travel date. It's going to fluctuate radically over time.

thanks
 

I agree to all that, but it does kill my chance for success at my Platinum Medallion Challenge when AA is regularly $100 to $200 cheaper than DL with flights a month in advance. I had been figuring DL would be the airline that would save me bucks this year. Guess not.

I fly the same route about 26 times a year, sometimes other destinations, but generally CLT-LAX-CLT.

If one carrier really is as much as -hundreds of dollars- cheaper, why on earth would you select the more expensive one?

It's not really all that complicated. It's pretty clear you are looking at AA's broken fare option through DFW (rather than the non-stop CLT-LAX route). This cheaper option exists because of the non-stop competition with WN on CLT-DFW and NK on DFW-LAX and WN no DAL-LAX. Unlike the legacies, WN and NK do not have Saturday night stay requirements for their cheaper fares. So AA matches their fares and you are able to get a cheap fare on AA by combining a CLT-DFW fare with a DFW-LAX (if you look at the fare rules on the ticket, you will see it is not a simple single fare).

AA and DL
 

One of the reasons is that DL thinks they can charge more because many will stick with them for the miles and perks. I will not do that.

"Whatever it look like....it definitely ain't that." Former Florida Senator George Smathers

Or it could be that since DL doesn't fly CLTLAX, they would rather focus on their own nonstop segments rather than matching AA's fares and diluting revenue on CLTATL/ATLLAX segments that they can extract a premium on.

But the other thing, that clearly the traveling public doesn't seem to understand is that DL publishes fares that matches AA's fares (seems the question that perpetually pops up is why isn't XX airline matching YY--they must not want my business). Revenue management is focusing their efforts on local markets which result in the closing off inventory of cheaper fares of the connecting segments.

Some passengers will pay the premium to fly their airline of choice regardless of connections. Others won't. Clearly its up to each individual airline to decide what mix of traffic they want.