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Old Apr 3, 2019, 8:42 am
  #16  
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Originally Posted by Pianoman109876


yes,
i know, which is why I am angry that they removed the ATL connection. The regionals out of ALB in particular are .....
Would it make sense to drive to Albany from somewhere? Maybe SYR, but DL uses mostly RJs there too. BDL still has the majority of its DL service on mainline aircraft. I'd avoid NYC if driving, plus rental cars are expensive there.
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Old Apr 3, 2019, 11:16 am
  #17  
 
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I don't get this discussion. Sounds like there's a good price and schedule booking separately thru ATL. So just book it separately. Done. Can't imagine why you'd want to rent a car to accomplish this.

Originally Posted by Often1
Do bear in mind that you do not have a connection if you are on separate tickets and that if you need to make a change or cancel, you will need to pay a change fee for each ticket (typically $200 for a standard domestic penalty fare). Thus, if your plans change by a day, it will cost $400 to make the change.
Ridiculous. No agent is going to charge a double fee for changing two tickets on the same day. I've done this many times and no agent has even hinted at a double fee.
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Old Apr 3, 2019, 12:25 pm
  #18  
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Originally Posted by kjnangre
I don't get this discussion. Sounds like there's a good price and schedule booking separately thru ATL. So just book it separately. Done. Can't imagine why you'd want to rent a car to accomplish this.


Ridiculous. No agent is going to charge a double fee for changing two tickets on the same day. I've done this many times and no agent has even hinted at a double fee.
The discussion is about why Delta might've rendered this routing unavailable, and why you have to book each leg SEPARATELY (not even multi-city) in order to accomplish it. It's just rather strange.
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Old Apr 3, 2019, 12:31 pm
  #19  
 
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Originally Posted by Pianoman109876
The discussion is about why Delta might've rendered this routing unavailable, and why you have to book each leg SEPARATELY (not even multi-city) in order to accomplish it. It's just rather strange.
I don't see how renting a car and driving to Syracuse is going to help you resolve why DL blocked the routing, but have fun, I guess.

I put my theory in the first reply about why DL doesn't want you flying thru ATL. I think it might be the right answer.
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Old Apr 3, 2019, 12:42 pm
  #20  
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Originally Posted by kjnangre
I don't get this discussion. Sounds like there's a good price and schedule booking separately thru ATL. So just book it separately. Done. Can't imagine why you'd want to rent a car to accomplish this.

I suppose "good" price is relative here. Cheapest main cabin one-way's booking GRR-ATL and ATL-ALB are 3-week advance T and U fares for $424.60. The cheapest main cabin one-way on a single through fare is a 3-week advance X fare for $179.
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Old Apr 3, 2019, 11:17 pm
  #21  
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Originally Posted by 3Cforme
Along Great Circle routes it's 609 miles GRR-DTW-ALB. It's 1,493 miles GRR-ATL-ALB. Unless you can point to a published thru-fare GRR-ALB that allows routings thru Atlanta I don't this is a defect of delta.com. Moving planes and people about isn't like moving a few electrons on the internet.
DL has rules limiting the total distance flown as a multiple of the actual distance. I don't recall the details, but it's something like up to 2x, unless there aren't any routes in that category, then up to 3x.
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Old Apr 3, 2019, 11:19 pm
  #22  
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Originally Posted by kjnangre
Ridiculous. No agent is going to charge a double fee for changing two tickets on the same day. I've done this many times and no agent has even hinted at a double fee.
That doesn't match my experience (albeit on PMNW).
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Old Apr 3, 2019, 11:28 pm
  #23  
 
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Originally Posted by sethb
DL has rules limiting the total distance flown as a multiple of the actual distance. I don't recall the details, but it's something like up to 2x, unless there aren't any routes in that category, then up to 3x.
Ya but GRR-MSP-ALB is almost the same length and it's legal. 2x would disallow both MSP and ATL as connections. 3x would allow both MSP and ATL as connections. For MSP to be allowed and ATL to be disallowed, the cut-off would have to be something like 2.42x. That would seem like an unusual rule to me. I think it's something else
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Old Apr 3, 2019, 11:31 pm
  #24  
 
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Originally Posted by sethb
That doesn't match my experience (albeit on PMNW).
Umm good for you. The industry was very different back then.
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Old Apr 4, 2019, 3:02 am
  #25  
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Originally Posted by kjnangre
Ya but GRR-MSP-ALB is almost the same length and it's legal. 2x would disallow both MSP and ATL as connections. 3x would allow both MSP and ATL as connections. For MSP to be allowed and ATL to be disallowed, the cut-off would have to be something like 2.42x. That would seem like an unusual rule to me. I think it's something else
Maybe, focus on the ATL hub on people who actually need to use it?
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Old Apr 4, 2019, 3:05 am
  #26  
 
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Originally Posted by moondog
Maybe, focus on the ATL hub on people who actually need to use it?
Makes sense to me

Originally Posted by kjnangre
Likely that DL simply wants to keep the ATL flights for people who really need them
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Old Apr 4, 2019, 7:55 am
  #27  
 
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Originally Posted by sethb
DL has rules limiting the total distance flown as a multiple of the actual distance. I don't recall the details, but it's something like up to 2x, unless there aren't any routes in that category, then up to 3x.
I thought this was just for milage tickets.
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Old Apr 4, 2019, 8:01 am
  #28  
 
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Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
I was going to suggest trying to book it using advanced search by fare class and increasing the fare class one step as a time as IMO this sometimes is a way to avoid broken fares and get cheaper ticket prices, but if the ATL connection isn't a legal routing, the only choice would be to do it as multicity with more than four hours in ATL, which seems to increase the price (perhaps because the cheaper fares don't permit stopovers.

I really miss the functionality of being able to use multicity to construct particular routings without making stopovers along the way.
The ATL connection isn't a legal routing only for the specific fare. I dont know why DL agents couldn't book the higher fare classes that do allow this connection. It is available for $1005 on the days I searched. Bookable through any good travel agent or Priceline as one ticket.

Not that I would reccomend paying that much when there are other options....

Last edited by Aliquot; Apr 4, 2019 at 8:08 am
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Old Apr 4, 2019, 8:02 am
  #29  
 
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The change in routing rules was fairly recent, seemingly went into effect 3/26:

Previously, it was: 1. GRR-RDU/NYC/MSP/DTT/CVG/BOS/ATL-ALB
Now: 1. GRR-MSP/DTT-ALB

The ATL was the only connection removed that had actual service to ALB. ATL was also removed from many of the Central Virginia to NYC routing rules (See the Increasing Restricted Legal Routings Thread), but in that instance, DL took ATL out of the routing rules but left the airports with no connecting service.
nancypants likes this.

Last edited by ajggiant; Apr 4, 2019 at 8:02 am Reason: Clarity
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Old Apr 4, 2019, 8:52 am
  #30  
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Originally Posted by ajggiant
The change in routing rules was fairly recent, seemingly went into effect 3/26:

Previously, it was: 1. GRR-RDU/NYC/MSP/DTT/CVG/BOS/ATL-ALB
Now: 1. GRR-MSP/DTT-ALB

The ATL was the only connection removed that had actual service to ALB. ATL was also removed from many of the Central Virginia to NYC routing rules (See the Increasing Restricted Legal Routings Thread), but in that instance, DL took ATL out of the routing rules but left the airports with no connecting service.
this is fascinating! How do you find this??
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