Was just looking at a random routing for future, and saw EWR-DTW on Sunday nights in May, say DL2942 (8:21 pm departure). For at least May 5, May 12 and May 19 at that time, there’s no basic availability or it says sold out. I don’t buy they’ve sold that many yet, so assume it means there’s no BE on that routing.

I wouldn’t actually book it because of BE, but was surprised to see routes without BE and got curious. Is that common? I assume mostly on business oriented routes, or is that an EWR thing?

And if anyone has a secret trick to get Google Flights to always skip BE, tips accepted! That’s what got me going down this rabbit hole

Popular travel day and time and DL is not currently releasing any inventory in U/T/X/V fare classes on flights. BE fares are dual inventory fares and only go as high as U class on this route. With only L and higher fare bucket open in coach fare classes, there are only Main Cabin fares to choose from due to dual inventory preventing any of the BE fare filings from being booked. No, there is no way to get Google Flights to filter out BE fares. ITA Matrix can do it though with advanced controls (F ~BC=E in extension codes, DL+ in routing codes to limit it to DL flights).

BTW, quick side note on that 8:21 pm EWR-DTW departure - I have yet to see it operate on time anytime I've been at EWR. As it is, all three NYC airports are delay-prone, and being that late in the day on a short hop route yields a high probability for an ATC headache. If you're just going to DTW, it's not a big deal, but a watchout if it's a flight you're going to be connecting from in DTW.

There are often no BE fares availble for itineraries with interline partners (not codeshares) or for fares that rhe website builds with end-on-end ticketing. I occasionally see simple trips like this that don't have BE. I think it's explained well.above, so I won't repeat.

Google flights.
Sometimes, but not always this trick randomly works: you select a Delta itinerary, on the last screen choose Main Cabin and click on buy with Delta.
hen continue searching in the same browser window, and the prices are displayed for the Main Cabin (in the least of flights to choose, not on the map view)

Yeah, agreed - that always works for purchase! I just wish there was a way to remove BE for search (or price tracking) to avoid having to guess which it is before clicking through!

I think it's important to note that while they aren't selling BE on that specific flight right now, EWR-DTW-XXX (say ORD or SDF, or another short flight) could easily be sold as Basic Economy on that same flight.

Provided there is at least U bucket open on married segment inventory. It doesn't matter if there is E bucket open if there is no U or lower class availability due to dual inventory checks and the lack of any BE fare filings with a higher basis than U. It can work both ways with married segment inventory.

Here there is K bucket open on standalone flight, but only Q bucket with married segment inventory.




Here there's only L or higher on standalone flight, but a couple seats open in U bucket with married segment inventory (conversely, there's Z bucket open on standalone flight, but not with married segment inventory). There's no BE fares available on standalone, but 2 seats on EWR-DTW-ORD in BE due to EWR-DTW flight being U2. An L fare on EWR-DTW in Main costs $179, so you won't save anything by booking EWR-DTW-ORD in a BE fare with U basis.