DL Stretching Pricing Divide Basic vs Economy
Checking for a few trips these next few weeks, it appears DAL has moved from the $20-$30 gap in pricing for Basic to regular economy to $40. Now I'm looking at west coast flights but it appears this is across the board. I figured they would eventually try and push the premium price and it appears they've done it.
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Not the first time they've tried. The other times they've backed off. Will be interesting to see if it sticks this time.
Maybe DL sees an opening with broad AA weakness |
Examples? It's been $35 each way for most routes (domestically) for quite awhile now. AA and UA have largely matched. There are a handful of exceptions where it is lower on leisure routes and out of competitive hubs liike SEA and BOS, but that's about it.
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The difference was $60 each way for my DTW-YUL flights next month, since it's a short flight on a CRJ with no middle seats I went with the Basic price.
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They try it now and again on different routes. ATL-BWI was as high as a $100 fare difference between main cabin and economy. Fares in main cabin have increased significantly from what they used to be as a result. There has been no bending down of the cost curve - basic economy tickets are the price of main cabin tickets of the olden days.
Delta can price their tickets however they like, however I have been increasingly turning to other carriers. I can get a carry-on and a big seat up front on Spirit for less than the cost of a main cabin ticket on Delta. I have to be mindful of the operational reliability issues there, but as someone who used to think I'd never book Spirit, I've been doing so increasingly over the past year. Delta's CASM-PRASM gap on nonstops out of Atlanta on even competitive routes has gotten completely out of whack. I refuse to pay $400+ for a main cabin ticket on a sub-1 hour flight time nonstop booked far in advance. O&D premium or not, it just makes me feel ripped off. |
I've seen $100 fare difference on round trip AUS-FCA (via SLC or MSP) . And basic economy on that route is $496. I can understand calling sub $200 RT fares basic economy, but having nearly $500 fare be basic economy feels like a rip off.
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AA had recently started experimenting with higher differentials and that suggests it works well enough, particularly as larger numbers of corporate customers exclude BE.
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The problem with messing with the differential is if you're not in lock-step with the competition which price should you be matching?
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Originally Posted by ltp711
(Post 31634160)
The difference was $60 each way for my DTW-YUL flights next month, since it's a short flight on a CRJ with no middle seats I went with the Basic price.
VAVQA0BQ $107 VAVQA0ML $137 XAVOA0BQ $154 XAVOA0ML $184 TAVOA0BQ $165 TAVOA0ML $195 UAUQA0BQ $228 UAUQA0ML $258 |
Originally Posted by Austin787
(Post 31634332)
I've seen $100 fare difference on round trip AUS-FCA (via SLC or MSP) . And basic economy on that route is $496. I can understand calling sub $200 RT fares basic economy, but having nearly $500 fare be basic economy feels like a rip off.
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I have seen pricing with JFK as a connection in the $40s each way
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Originally Posted by manually
(Post 31635351)
I have seen pricing with JFK as a connection in the $40s each way
Here's an example of a broken fare being listed for JFK-LAS with connection in LAX. So you get hit with upcharge on both JFK-LAX and LAX-LAS segments because they are on different fares. (this is a roundtrip search, so it's including BE upcharge for return flight as well). https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...abc5a1bed9.png |
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