vincentharris

Sometimes I wonder who would pay these prices for FC???

Seems a bit overboard in my opinion....

HDQDD

Supply and demand

AJDelvarno

Knowing the dates you're looking at would go a long way towards helping the rest of us answer your question...

GregInMN

I would think that DL has a pretty pricing model for figuring out FC pricing. Seems spendy to most but I'm sure there are some "high rollers" who don't blink. If not, more seats available for upgrades :>)

Mr. Tickets

This generally happens when the flight is down to just a few first class seats left and all the A and P inventory is sold. Still makes it nice for people who can SDC to a different flight (in first class) and they are not worried about specific inventory.

vincentharris

This is all the way out in May, I cleared the browser, and searched other various dates closer. All of them are coming out to $1,900-$2,100.

Seems odd as usually this route is about $800 or so in FC.

kenn0223

Looks like the front is pretty much sold out here but there is plenty of room in the back. Given the dates, I don't think this is an example of last-seat availability but rather testing the market to capture high-paying F only demand. I'd expect they have a model that, based on historical data and/or date specific data, knows when to ramp up the price in advance of potential F only demand. That model also will likely reduce the pricing as the departure date nears if the seats aren't sold. Inventory availability and the resulting pricing isn't always a downward trend with an airline. The chase is for the exact highest fare for every seat on the plane while at the same time not having to pay to fly an empty seat.

I would expect this route (XXX-LAS) to have a decent number of last minute flyers who only fly in F (but can't afford to fly private). For Example, most any D-list + celebrity likely has commercial F in whatever contract they're working under. You also have a ton of conventions with May really being one of the biggest months ahead of the summer season (and associated vacations). The LV Convention Center can hold 120,000+ people and every industry has those that only fly F. All in all, LAS is one of the more unique and interesting domestic markets.

synergistic

As Mr. Tickets said, they just aren't selling anything but full F fares - no discounted versions. That will almost always happen when they're down to just a few first class seats, and might happen if DL has reason to believe they can sell a lot of full fare tickets on certain routes/dates. Any big conventions around then? Perhaps one with heavy ATL attendance?

rylan

I've seen this with LAS frequently, even when flights have a lot of open seats up front. Worked out for me during CES a couple weeks ago... return flight was wide open yet only full F for sale, so got a comp upgrade.

Seems they need to tweak their FCM for there... although it can mean more available seats for medallions to get upgraded because of it.

xliioper

How are you searching? I'm seeing a number of dates with sub $800 fares. Google Flights returns the exact same results, so can we please leave out the tin-foil hatism. Calendar search for non-stop F with 4 day stay --

FlyerWx

It seems to be departures on May 2nd where prices are this high for the non-stop in F. The surrounding days are back to ~$800.

There is a big convention starting the 3rd, but it could be a coincidence.

xliioper

OP did not specify May, but rather "all the way out to May". This is clearly nonsense (see monthly calendar view above).

flyerCO

Actually he did. He said "all the way out in May."

There's multiple big number conventions in May some over 50000 people. May 3rd is start of Hospitality convention with close to 20000 expected for it alone. There's also multiple others starting same day adding another 15-20k.

rylan

I don't see any big conventions starting that would explain the May 2 price...

The next big one is in early March and then late April, and there is also spring break demand in march/april (although thats not really F travel).

xliioper

Okay, I got the quote wrong, but I believe the interpretation is correct (namely he's claiming the pricing is present all the way out to May for all dates).