JFK-LAX Pricing?
 

I almost never fly transcon - can book premium cabin via work. Looking at flying in late April and D1 is more than double the cost of B6 or AA. I'd like to get the DL miles, but not that much! Any reason to think pricing will drop more in line with the competition, or is it more likely to go the other way around and have B6 and AA increase. Thanks!

Do yourself a favor and fly UA out of EWR in Polaris and choose the 787 flights. Far superior experience.

One-way D1 Z fares on JFK-LAX currently go for $1600. If there is not Z currently open on flight, they could open up some as flights gets closer. If there is already Z open, then the $1600 each-way price point is likely the lowest you will see on route (unless they file new fare filings which is not all that likely). DL has 5 fares classes for D1/FC fares -- J/C/D/I/Z with Z being the cheapest and J most expensive. It looks like for late April, they currently mostly only have I inventory or higher open on flights. I fares go for $2400 each-way. So it's not unreasonable to think they might open up Z on more flights as dates get closer. But the higher demand flight times on this route will likely never see Z open up.

Unless EF is broken (more and more likely these days..) it's been that way for months too? Wow.. I keep saying DL has a massively inflated opinion of what D1 is worth, but trying to set bottom-of-table at $500+ over the direct competition at UA and B6 just seems nuts.

They fixed historical fare searches on EF awhile ago (it was broke for a bit after a website refresh). It looks like one-way D1 Z fares on JFK-LAX have been $1600 since October 23rd. They $1500 before then.

DL pricing has gotten pretty crazy this year on this route, even in PS where it’s often the same price or more than J on UA (out of EWR) or AA.

But DL’s J pricing JFK-LAX isn’t that different from UA on EWR-SFO- they both have a lock on the premium traffic on these respective routes and people are paying those prices. (There’s a similar thread in the UA forum about crazy J pricing on EWR-SFO.)

OK thx. Right now for my dates they are all roughly 7,500 RT!

$7500 RT would be a combination of J ($4000) and C ($3600) fares and nearly worst case scenario.

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The last date in April with flights with Z class open in the JFK-LAX direction is currently April 19th. After the 19th, it's all I and higher inventory. LAX-JFK direction is pretty much the same way. An I fare in each direction would be $2400 + $2400 = $4800 roundtrip. There's some peak surcharge dates in March. The $2100 fares below on March 13th and 14th are actually $1600 Z fares with a $500 surcharge added on.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...c8db1a1f25.png

UA still only $1,200 half-round-trip from SFO, although B6 and AA are much cheaper.

But more broadly yes, we have seen the legacies return to striving for yields that can compare to TATL for the stage length, and trying to pretend B6 doesn't exist.

Yes, for the lowest fare buckets, similar to how DL Z fares on JFK-LAX are currently $1,599.

in practice, the UA forum is reporting that fares are frequently $2,500 and up one way on UA for that route, which corresponds to what I’m frequently seeing on DL this year for JFK-LAX.

Looking at PS, DL PS fares on JFK-LAX now start at $999 one way for G fares, which are scarce, with A fares at $1,399 and P fares at $2,000+. This year DL is only loading P fares most days with several months’ advance purchase, with A fares closer in, and then a smattering of flights with G inventory.

I don’t know who is paying $1,400 for PS when you can get J on AA, UA and B6… but clearly there are people who are doing so

Also, DL used to have roundtrip D1 fares on JFK-LAX (requiring staying until at least first Saturday after departure). These started at $1300 each-way for Z fares vs. $1500 for one-way Z fares. Roundtrip fares have an 'F' in second letter of fare basis code vs. an 'A' for one-ways. They ditched the roundtrip fare filings back in October when they bumped one-way fares up to $1600.

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https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...b13c21be81.png

I fly JFK to LAX usually 3-4 times per month on Delta, usually book a week or two out. Of course depends on the day/flight time, but I am almost always seeing between $2,500 and $3,500 (roughly) for one way, of course with some exceptions. Delta One is always full, and in my personal experience, I rarely see more than one or two upgrades clear. Even the 767-300 beats a United 757 imo, which operates the majority of their EWR to LAX flights. United's ground experience at both airports isn't even comparable to Delta's, and JetBlue's JFK lounge doesn't let transcon Mint passengers in (i think you can purchase a day pass separately if there's space).

Long story short, I think Delta thinks they have the best experience on the route, and when it's a Boeing 767-400 or Airbus A330-900neo it truly is the best by lightyears. I think these prices are here to stay, and I think people are paying them.

Presumably there are some corporate discounts that come into play, but personally for out-of-pocket expenses I have a hard time justifying the fare differences between DL and the other carriers.

Sort of unrelated, but has anybody noticed a pattern in the DL flight numbers for JFK-LAX? eg on Sunday we have DL742, DL773, DL767, DL747, DL738, DL707, and DL752. The remainder almost fit the pattern: DL713, DL771 and DL353.

Yes! Quite an aviation fan who did the route numbering for this one.

Yeah, if there are people willing to pay a $1,000+ round-trip premium for the Delta One Lounge and direct aisle access in the old 763 seat versus the B/E Diamond seat (I would note I prefer UA Polaris seat to anything Delta has in the sky though) then Delta's pricing is making them a killing. I am just clearly not such a person and would happily fly the cheapest lie-flat carrier for all but a nominal price difference.

It is fair, though, that the typical OPM traveler literally does not look at the price and Delta owns the best curb-to-curb experience right now.