ahumphery

.... this will probably be deemed as a newbie question but it's killing me.

I live in OKC

Why are fares cheaper out of Tulsa?

had to purchase last minute flights last Fri - Sun (11/10-11/12)

TUL > ATL $350
OKC >ATL $800

the week before that Wed - Sun (11/1 - 11/5)

TUL > ATL $315
OKC >ATL $770

CPMaverick

Supply, demand, competition, and a little bit of magic algorithms.

This type of pricing is not uncommon. Some city pairs have minimal competition, especially on non-stop routes. In these cases the airlines have been able to increase prices and still fill enough seats.

Even more confusing, you might find the same OKC-ATL flight as part of a OKC-ATL-XXX itinerary at half the price, even though you sit in the same seat. It's all about the competition on the particular city pair ticket.

ahumphery

thanks CPMaverick!!!

it's so silly...... I will look into that for upcoming one ways

btonkid12345

OKC-ATL-DEN is $128 tomorrow, with multiple OKC-ATL flight options

xliioper

OKC-ATL has fares from $320.40 roundtrip, but they have a 14-day advance purchase requirement. Since you are buying last minute, you are not meeting the advance purchase requirement for these fares and the more expensive fare classes are the only options available. TUL-ATL has fares as low as $350.40 with no advance purchase requirement. So as long as there is availability in the fare bucket, you can purchase on short notice.

indufan

If you are going to analyze airline pricing, you will need at least a doctorate in economics.

Biggest difference I have ever seen domestically. CVG-LAX $2100. IND-LAX $200.

danielonn

That is sad with regards to OKC ATL when I booked a Delta Air France trip last minute from SFO to TLV round trip for $776 per person the week before departure in Feb 2015.

tvnwz

My bet: Supply and demand. I'll bet the OKC flights are mostly full, the TUL flights probably with lots of seats to sell. That's usually what I find.

xliioper

This is simply about advance purchase requirements for the fare filings on this route. OKC-ATL has numerous flights the next few days that are all 9's across the board in the fare buckets according to ExpertFlyer which means they likely have fairly light loads. The problem is that the cheapest fare available on this route with no advance purchase requirement are pricey K fares. Meanwhile, TUL-ATL has some reasonable X fares with no advance purchase requirements. DL likely has more business traffic on OKC-ATL than TUL-ATL and those business flyers tend to purchase closer-in and are less price sensitive than leisure flyers. So even if the flight is mostly empty, DL is not going to let those flyers off with a cheap fare on a route where they offer the only non-stop. Flyers who are merely connecting (such as the OKC-ATL-DEN noted above), may very well have cheaper fares available to them that do not have advance purchase requirements.

ND76

Some competitor of Delta is offering the cheaper fare out of TUL, and Delta is matching it. Looking at it from a broader perspective beyond TUL, sometimes, the competitor is Southwest; sometimes, the competitor is American; sometimes, the competitor is JetBlue.

Where I live, there are 6 airports that Delta serves within 100 miles, and I am able to use the advance search feature to get a matrix to compare prices. Sometimes it seems really silly that BWI is hundreds of dollars cheaper for the same round trip than DCA; sometimes, DCA has the lower fare. Occasionally, Charlottesville, VA (CHO), where DL only has 4 departures per day, will have DL fares that are hundreds of dollars cheaper than the 3 major DC area airports. (From where I am located, Richmond (RIC) and Harrisburg (MDT) also show up in the matrix).

This past winter, Delta was offering bargain RT fares to London out of PHL, that were 50% cheaper than what they offered out of the DC 3. It was worth the 145 mile one way drive up there.

ND76

Frontier flies non-stop OKC-DEN; Delta could well have matched them on this route.

davetravels

apologies in advance....

Hey, what do you think about this?

Here's what happened to me . . . .

What do I do about this?

How did this happen?

Haven't seen this before . . . .



MY apologies in advance for seeming snarky, but, it's EXTREMELY helpful for people who browse the forum, if you create thread titles that are informative so people can decide whether or not it's something they're interested in reading. Might I suggest a title for this thread could have been:

Why are fares so much cheaper out of Tulsa compared to OKC?

As Dame Edna says . . . . "I mean this in the NICEST possible way"!

C W

Very much agreed!

Meaningless thread titles have been irking me recently.

Please take a moment to alert mods to the TOS 4 violation so perhaps we can get an edit

writerguyfl

I understand this point-of-view. However, you're technically breaking the rules yourselves with these posts. You're basically complaining that someone else is breaking the rules while you're breaking the rules.

davetravels

Not really complaining. Simply a helpful suggestion.

Just a side thought, that, the fact that I posted it in the thread, vs notifying a moderator, will help others think about thread titles as well.