Originally Posted by EditingFX

When I'm booking a flight and get what experience says is a pricy fare, I'll do due diligence for my clients & double check against other carriers. Usually fare differences among the big 3 are within a reasonable range (call that a couple hundred maybe), but this time, DL was almost DOUBLE for main (Q) fare. $935 vs $485. Both nonstop, both flights within an hour of each other. ATL-LAX RT 11/5-7.

Thoughts on why such a huge difference in almost identical product?

So I'm shaking my head that as DL Diamond, I just bought a main cabin fare using my DL Reserve card on AA out of ATL. I'm totally used to paying somewhat more, being in a fortress city, but wow. Hate missing out on the MQMs & almost-for-sure UG (lots of empties in F), but gotta draw the line somewhere.

Originally Posted by writerguyfl

It's counterintuitive, but sometimes the best way to make money is to send customers to your competitors. If Delta knows that this flight has a high demand for last-minute seats, that might be what is happening.

We used to do that back when I was a hotel Revenue Manager. (And by "we", I mean the revenue management software.) You raise rates so high that people would be silly to pay your rates when your competitor across the street is 50% less. They sell out and then anyone needing a room at the last minute has no choice but to stay with us because we're the only hotel with available room.

It's a bit of a gamble. But given the amount of data that airlines/hotels have with which to make predictions, it's not that risky.