Spring 2021- Abnormally High Fares?
I'm combing dates to book a trip from CMH to DAB at some point in the April-May timeframe and there's nothing less than $319 r/t, with some dates into the $500 range. Meanwhile, AA, which is typically exorbitant into DAB, is reasonable in the $250-300 r/t neighborhood; in some cases, I could book F on AA for the same price as Y on DL.
I haven't seen fares like this on DL with the city pair since the mid-to-late 2000s where DAB was an afterthought because MCO was almost always $100-200 cheaper per person. Recouping some of the lost revenue from another month with empty seats, perhaps? edit- There's what's seemingly an unusually high number of refundable Y fares left on planes which appear to be mostly empty. I'm lost. |
DL cut back far too much and their algorithms are being particularly revenue-happy.
That, plus don’t forget that DL is still seat blocking while AA is not. Multiple people have reported higher than 2019 prices in DL F very recently despite the service cutbacks. With regards to the Y-only availability, this could be because schedule changes are coming in about 24 hours (on Saturday). This usually happens to a flight if it is changing or being cancelled, or it is brand new and has just been added (it takes them a few days to add the lower fare buckets in, for whatever reason). |
Originally Posted by btonkid12345
(Post 33124524)
DL cut back far too much and their algorithms are being particularly revenue-happy.
That, plus don’t forget that DL is still seat blocking while AA is not. Multiple people have reported higher than 2019 prices in DL F very recently despite the service cutbacks. With regards to the Y-only availability, this could be because schedule changes are coming in about 24 hours (on Saturday). This usually happens to a flight if it is changing or being cancelled, or it is brand new and has just been added (it takes them a few days to add the lower fare buckets in, for whatever reason). |
Originally Posted by btonkid12345
(Post 33124524)
DL cut back far too much and their algorithms are being particularly revenue-happy.
That, plus don’t forget that DL is still seat blocking while AA is not. Multiple people have reported higher than 2019 prices in DL F very recently despite the service cutbacks. With regards to the Y-only availability, this could be because schedule changes are coming in about 24 hours (on Saturday). This usually happens to a flight if it is changing or being cancelled, or it is brand new and has just been added (it takes them a few days to add the lower fare buckets in, for whatever reason). |
Originally Posted by JSprague24
(Post 33124501)
edit- There's what's seemingly an unusually high number of refundable Y fares left on planes which appear to be mostly empty. I'm lost.
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If your flight is in May, check back again now. DL removed all inventory caps in the month of May (back to 100% capacity) and some of the lower fare buckets have been opening back up on many routes.
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Check the prices to MCO (Orlando). You will always find lower fares than flying through DAB. BTW, it is about an hour from Daytona Beach to the Orlando airport.
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Originally Posted by pfreet
(Post 33125168)
Check the prices to MCO (Orlando). You will always find lower fares than flying through DAB. BTW, it is about an hour from Daytona Beach to the Orlando airport.
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As others have noted, demand is rapidly resurging. Domestic leisure bookings (i.e. the flights you are trying to book) are back to about 80-90% of 2019 levels (and may even cross 100% in the next week or two). Any flight in April is going to be higher priced than competitors due to middle seat blocking.
Airlines have reallocated capacity to these leisure routes, but supply is now lagging demand. Delta did a *massive* culling of low fare availability buckets about two weeks ago (at least ex-ATL city pairs - I can't speak for others). Any domestic flight to leisure destinations this summer won't be cheap. There will still be deals to be found on select international routes and perhaps more business-oriented domestic city pairs. People are getting vaccinated or confident on the date when they will be vaccinated and are booking accordingly. Stimulus continues to juice the economy and some families are going to be getting $7,000+ extra cash from Uncle Sam. All of that is impacting booking demand. |
I think their system is still catching up from the big schedule change last weekend. I just saw this morning some V fares return on some routes I have been following, out of my home town, where yesterday it was Q or higher.
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Originally Posted by blitzcon
(Post 33125343)
I think their system is still catching up from the big schedule change last weekend. I just saw this morning some V fares return on some routes I have been following, out of my home town, where yesterday it was Q or higher.
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I was in DTW earlier this week and needed to make an itin change to go see a certain EV manufacturer in central IL.
So I call DL, and I say, hey I need to get to BMI. DL: we don't have anything from DTW... Me: ok, how's about: PIA...we don't fly there anymore MLI...we don't fly there anymore MDW...we don't fly there anymore. Seriously??? So, I have them book me to ORD, and then they wanted $700+ for the ORD-RDU return tonight (via ATL)... So I booked F on a UA non-stop for $275. :) DL isn't making it easy to stay loyal. Heck, I'm getting close to Silver status on UA. Might have to start hanging out in their FT threads. |
Originally Posted by HDQDD
(Post 33125421)
I was in DTW earlier this week and needed to make an itin change to go see a certain EV manufacturer in central IL.
So I call DL, and I say, hey I need to get to BMI. DL: we don't have anything from DTW... Me: ok, how's about: PIA...we don't fly there anymore MLI...we don't fly there anymore MDW...we don't fly there anymore. Seriously??? So, I have them book me to ORD, and then they wanted $700+ for the ORD-RDU return tonight (via ATL)... So I booked F on a UA non-stop for $275. :) DL isn't making it easy to stay loyal. Heck, I'm getting close to Silver status on UA. Might have to start hanging out in their FT threads. Delta does fly DTW-BMI but not every day. They do fly ATL-BMI daily so you could have done your return from there at a reasonable time (flight at 4 PM, RDU by 10 PM). |
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