nrr

I flew 6 n/s rts between jfk and las all in D1, for all of these I was upgraded at the gate or "self-upgraded" on-line = change seat option listed the seat as free, even with seat blocking the (initial) D1 loads were light.
For future reservations I purchased D1 or fc (using DL Vacations) to maximize MQDs and keep DM status for next year; with full D1/fc cabin seating permitted there seems to be (much fewer) empty seats--maybe lots of pax doing what I'm doing(?)
The pricing for some itns I've searched are astronomical $2600 rt., also connecting flts in many instances were much higher than n/s--why would anyone want to connect if a n/s was cheaper [similar dep. times for each].
For all of my flts.I flew on a D1 which departed jfk between 8 am and 9 am, for May-July that dep. slot is no longer listed.
Since conventions have not returned, most jfk-las fliers should be "leisure" pax.

Adam1222

I'm not sure what the question is, but on the non-stop versus connecting, many people would prefer a morning flight, and, as you note, the morning non-stop is not on the schedule anymore. But also, there's a lot more demand for JFK-ATL or JFK-MSP seat (and probably ATL-LAS or MSP-LAS seat) than for the JFK-LAS seat.
Vegas isn't a huge leisure destination from the Northeast-- certainly not like it is from the West and Midwest. JFK-LAS upfront likely had a lot of international connecting passengers.
Also note that on the weekends, there are often very high fares showing as a result of inventory changes during schedule changes. I just looked for May and June and DL is less than AA on this route on most days, around $800, and *a lot* less than Jetblue, Alaska, and United.

xliioper

I don't if you mean the morning flight doesn't exist or simply isn't showing up under a DL Vacations search. The current 8:40AM morning flight (DL325) runs all through May and then is replaced on June 5th with a 7:00AM flight (DL752). It remains a D1 flight, although the equipment switches to a 763 on July 7th and the 7:00AM flight continues through August 4th. August 5th and beyond should still be considered fairly elastic at this point.

nrr

From Europe(?), are many of these entering the US now?
I booked a DL Vacation package on Thurs. from JFK-LAS (6/25-6/29), which was changed to all D1, I paid $1200, my new flts price at $2600--but I locked in $1200.
There must be a big market for NYC to Las, lots of n/s and connections.
But my main ques. was why a big push to fly D1/fc n/s between JFK and LAS in May and June but less so in March(madness) and April?

xliioper

Travel demand is starting to rebound more now as Covid looks to continue to recede and June is starting to get close in. Summer travel is generally a higher demand period due to schools being out. You are making way too much out of a single anecdotal instance. Using Google Flights, D1 pricing for Fri - Tue trips on JFK-LAS D1 flights for July - August is fairly consistently around $1300 roundtrip. This is a combination of KAUKA0DQ and TAVKA0DQ fares. As Friday is a fairly popular travel day (especially for LAS bound flights), it's not terribly surprising they only have the pricier K-basis I fares available for those departures. The cheapest possible roundtrip D1 fares with TAVKA0DQ Z fares in both directions would be $1160.80. These are typically only found with mid-week departures in both directions as demand tends to be weakest for mid-week flights.

nrr

I was searching direct on DL. I just looked at July, the 1st n/s is at 7:00 am and the next 4:59 pm--a big gap.

Adam1222

​​​​​​The fact that there are a lot of connecting flight options says nothing about there being a "big market" for NY to LAS. But I was pointing out it is not the same kind of leisure destination from the NY area as it is from the western part of the US.
​​​​​​
​Yes, I agree, there is fewer European or other international travel using the JFK-LAS as a connection. That was the point I was trying to make, as I thought you were asking about why it was empty up front. I think I just still don't understand the question.

As for the lack of a midday flight, I do not see 4x daily JFK-LAS returning until there is international feed and/or convention travel.

xliioper

You stated "May - July" and the 8:40AM DL325 flight runs all through May until Jun 5th. It wasn't really clear if you were complaining about the flight no longer being in 8 - 9AM window, or that there might not be a D1 flight in the morning at all. FYI, I did some additional research and found that JetBlue has an 8:00AM JFK-LAS flight from June 10th onward (flight 1611). You might want to look into their Mint product since Delta has failed you here.

nrr

The 8 am-9 am time slot was convenient for departures, the arrival in Las (with transfer to a casino) was also nice.
I'm certain(?) DL's service will improve. I'm DM with DL, which has its perks, so I sort of have to fly with DL. [I was once exp with AA, they decreased service to Las and cut out the n/s to ZRH--which so far delta hasn't.. I moved to DL.]
DL has a late afternoon D1, though their mid afternoon was nicer.
My post #1 in this tread was really to learn why the D1, FC seats in May-June are filing up faster (with full occupancy) vs. earlier this year (with 1/2 occupancy.)
The loss of the #325 was a peripheral issue.

NYC Flyer

• Demand is increasing generally in the industry, and customers are also booking reservations further out than they were earlier in the year.
• Vegas is opening up agressively and attracting more visitors.
• Carriers are testing the market a bit by limiting discount booking class inventory to see if they can sell more higher priced inventory.

gitismatty

the first major convention is expected to occur in June. the first real show in about 15 months. the expectation, I assume, is that this will demonstrate that the city is safe and capable of all kinds of guests (leisure and business).

nrr

After reading other threads here, it seems DL doesn't run that many D1 flts, yet between JFK and LAS there are at least 2 each way/day, sometimes even on the redeye. Wouldn't that imply that the JFK, LAS is a major market for DL.

xliioper

It is currently 2 out of 3 flights, but in July it is only 1 out of 4. Clearly there is enough premium demand for this route to have D1 flights, but not enough to make it 100% D1 like JFK-LAX/SFO.

Adam1222

I'm not sure how you are defining "major market." Pre-pandemic, Delta had Delta One flights on its nonstop flights from JFK to LAX, SAN, LAS, SEA, and SFO. That's every 6+ hour flight out of JFK except Portland, which is a smaller city. It also happens to be all the cities DL serves that Jetblue has Mint service on.

That doesn't mean all five cities are Delta's most major markets. JFK to MCO is a larger market than most of those cities, for example.