ajl1239

A hearty congratulations to Delta/Aeromexico for putting an end to affordable flights to Mexico City for Americans who don't live in one of the few marketplaces -- Miami, Chicago, Houston, NYC, Los Angeles -- served by Mexico's excellent low-cost carriers. Jet Blue flights -- while sometimes with long layovers -- were one of the last cheap ways to get to Mexico City, the greatest city in the Western Hemisphere. Delta/Aeromexico flights are generally twice the price of Jet Blue flights to Mexico City, and now will just be even more expensive.

Delta's anti-competitive behavior is truly one of the greatest threats to affordable North American aviation. It shouldn't cost $600 to fly from Atlanta to Mexico City or to fly from Atlanta to Montreal. It shouldn't cost more to fly to Mexico City from Minneapolis than it does to fly to Amsterdam.

steveholt

Is this your first experience with competing airlines? Do you work for Jetblue?

Often1

In what way has DL's conduct been unlawfully uncompetetive?

The sad truth is that B6 packed their aircraft with low fare passengers resulting in low PRASM and this better and more profitable uses for its aircraft.

Been this way since the ADA was enacted in 1984 and seems to work quite nicely.

ATOBTTR

From the cost to provide the service, it probably doesn't cost the airline more to fly you from MSP to AMS than it does to fly you from MSP to MEX. But the prices for airline tickets aren't driven by the "cost". They're driven by supply & demand and what the airline feels the market will bear. Supply & Demand was such that with too much supply, fares were unsustainable and unprofitable. If the demand is actually there and that demand can generate a profitable and sustainable operation, another airline will possibly look to come in and pick up the slack. It really is that simple.

Seems you should be just as upset at B6 for not being able to run the route in a manner that was sustainable.

kennycrudup

FWIW, WN used to fly to MEX and has/is eliminating the route; on the WN forum I think they've also attributed it to low PRASM.

GW McLintock

I think it was less DL/AM than it was Interjet, Volaris, and to a lesser extent VivaAerobus. Along with reduced demand due to the political climate, JetBlue was sharing the JFK and MCO routes with too many other carriers who either: were cheaper, or were major network carriers (DL/AM). JetBlue appealed to the VFR (visiting friends and relatives) crowd, which isn't so huge to begin with at MEX but also demands a low cost.

I don't think any of JetBlue's flights turned a profit. JFK was usually around half full, and MCO was 70-95% full -- but not being a business crowd, they were paying much less than customers on DL/AM and it was not profitable. I flew round trip from FLL once and the flight was barely 2/3 full. And I can't imagine who would have been on the Boston flight, as the Mexican populace there is very small compared to elsewhere.

-J.

Hipplewm

I flew UA from IAH to MEX and VER (E145) no less then 18 times this year and I can't remember having a flight that wasn't packed.

Typical price from CHS-IAH-VER-IAH-CHS was like $425 all spring - that seemed like a heck of a deal and was generally cheaper than DL and AA

CHS-IAH-MEX-VER-MEX-IAH-CHS were about the same for econ and $900ish for Business, where AA was $3000 and DL was $4000 for RT
I never did figure out why they were so expensive

I also boked several of my guy MEX-ORD and Aeromexico was dirt ... cheap, sometimes as little as $267 RT

So, IME, your arguementdoesn't hold water, or your glasses are awefully tinted

HDQDD

This. It’s amazing how many people on FT fail to understand, or just ignore Supply and Demand. Cost is rarely a factor in “market based” pricing (the exception being if the cost (+ gross profit minimum) is more than the market will bear. The formula for market price is quite simple:

Mkt price = Competition’s price +/- added value (that your product/solutions bring).

In the OP’s situation B6 either didn’t get the formula right, their costs were too high for that to work, or opportunity cost. Either way your rant should be against B6

xliioper

There are $386 roundtrip fares for BHM-MEX ($446 main cabin) on AA/UA/DL. These have a 2-week advance purchase requirement. Availability looks fairly good on AA/UA (DL looks more challenging finding dates with V bucket availability).

MSPeconomist

Mexico, including Mexico City, is basically a leisure market with low yields and the recently publicized incidents of violence and of guests being served tainted alcohol in resort hotels have further reduced demand.

drvannostren

Welcome to air travel as a whole.

It's routinely cheaper for me to fly from YVR-MEX or PEK than to go to Toronto. Wanna fly to Newfoundland? Good luck getting that ticket for less than $1200 return.

I'm constantly jealous of the myriad of cheapo fares from NYC to EUR, but they're closer than I am. Are you a little bit screwed on the MEX market? Sure maybe. But I'm sure you've got advantages that I don't have.

While MEX isn't always cheap from YVR, having Aeromexico here, especially once they switched to double daily, brought the fares down from here big time. After Mexicana died it was AC or bust basically until AM jumped in. I'm quite happy with the AM product/service when I fly them, the food kinda sucks, but you GET food, which can't be said for the "AC domestic service" offered from YVR-MEX.

ekozie

The recent spate of tourist deaths and tainted alcohol was in the Dominican Republic.

HDQDD

...which was recently debunked by the FBI.

M60_to_LGA

Ay mi amor. Where are you getting that DL is the main factor behind JetBlue's decision? The article you linked to actually gives other reasons - namely, Mexicans' preference for local airlines, B6's lack of local distribution channels, and the lack of business class on the B6 flights.

SOBE ER DOC

Tranquilo papi!

I hate to break it to you, but this is how competition works. BOS used to be an AA stronghold until B6 came in and undercut them. All legacy carriers used to have much more service to FLL until ULCCs came in and undercut them.