Delta's Sky High Fares
 

Sorry in advance for the long post. I have been watching Delta’s fares closely out of Salt Lake City for the last 10 years. Delta usually matches the competition’s fares. However, that all changed in the last few months. Below are fares (before taxes) for a few markets for 3-day one-way and 14-day advance roundtrip (to cover both the business and leisure traveler). The competition is also listed (out of SLC this is usually WN, but often HP, UA and F9).

One-Way, 3-Day Advance
SLC to LAX: $242 ($137 Others)
SLC to SNA: $499 ($139 Others)
SLC to BOS: $599 ($499 Others)
SLC to MCO: $299 ($185 Others)
SLC to PHX: $145 ($141 Others)
SLC to ORD: $360 ($215 Others)
SLC to SAN: $399 ($165 Others)
SLC to IAH: $299 ($185 Others)
SLC to SMF: $599 ($134 Others)
SLC to SFO: $346 ($149 Others)

Roundtrip 14-Day Advance (One Night Minimum Stay)
SLC to LAX: $222 ($182 Others)
SLC to SNA: $798 ($242 Others
SLC to BOS: $998 ($198 Others)
SLC to MCO: $399 ($238 Others)
SLC to PHX: $202 ($202 Others)
SLC to ORD: $300 ($198 Others)
SLC to SAN: $798 ($242 Others)
SLC to IAH: $280 ($280 Others)
SLC to SMF: $318 ($182 Others)
SLC to SFO: $572 ($198 Others)

Comments
1. Some of these fares are unreal. $499 to $599 one-way from SLC to SNA or SMF. Would anyone pay this? The yield guys in Atlanta must have new computers or something.
2. As a small business owner, we are flying far less Delta this year.
3. It seems that the spread between the highest fare (capped at $599 one-way and the lowest fares has narrowed).

Why is Delta doing this? Is this true of other markets? I know they need to raise revenue, but this is ridiculous. Delta needs to have its cost structure in-line so they can match the competition. I’m fine paying a 10% premium to fly Delta over the competition. I guess if they reduce capacity they can find a few people to pay these high fares. I’d like Delta to survive, but not this way. Please, Delta, bring your fares back in-line so I can afford to fly you!

Happydad

I have been watching fares between RDU-LAX for a weekend in April. Delta wants $460 for anything that is close to the times I would like. AA, WN, CO and NW are all in the $250-$320 range for the same time windows. I find it hard to justify a $140-$210 difference just to fly Delta. If they are getting people to pay the fares, then keep doing it, but in such a price sensitive market, I don't see how they are being competitive. Unfortunately, all my flying comes out of my pocket, so if Delta's fares don't come back in line with the rest of them, I may have to start being loyal to my wallet.

They haven't been matching folk for a few months now, I wish someone had some inside info :)

But then, its just folk flying in the back...

Noticed the Higher Prices Also
 

I have noticed something similar for flight JAX-LAS. Often these higher prices come down as the travel date approaches, sometimes not. This is in contrast to prices almost always increasing as the trip approaches in the past.

In looking at the segments I find that the ATL-SLC and CVG-SLC segments tend to be more heavily booked than the more direct routes. Something must be going on in this area this weekend because all the flight seem to be sold out.

Delta had introduced simplifares some time ago in response to their exceptionally high fares in CVG a captive market. These seem to have gone away with bankruptcy. Perhaps they also are no looking at SLC as a captive market also.

It will be interesting to see what DL winds up charging for its new TLV-ATL flights.

Almost all international airlines will fly me to the US, often at bargain-basement prices. (My last trip to PBI -- on a Delta ticket -- cost me about $300 less than the SLC-BOS 14 day trip cited by happydad100.)

There are, however, no other airlines flying directly TLV-ATL. I can stop in Europe or NYC. Somehow, I doubt that the advantage of going straight into ATL -- especially for those continuing on to other cities -- will allow DL to up its prices very much.

AGAIN, I point out that others are more expensive in certain markets.

SDF-BHM

DL $142
NW $172 (three seats available at this price according to expedia)
US $191
AA $414 ($693 with only one stop)
UA $510

Do I need to show other examples? Still, if Delta can somehow charge more and their planes are full, then all power to them. I DON'T believe that they can charge more, so overall it must be about even since I do see full planes.

I recently had to book a last-minute MCO-PHL-MCO. DL wanted $581 for flights connecting in ATL, US wanted $374 for non-stops both ways. People here know that I'm a big supporter of Delta. I think I've also been pretty vocal about my opinion of US. At the end of the day, who got me as a passenger though?

Sigh... yes, I confessed, I actually FLEW US Airways. The flight up wasn't too bad (although there was only one really friendly FA - The others seemed to have serious attitude problems). The flight back tomorrow should be interesting - US has been unable to assign me a seat on that flight :rolleyes:

This thread is interesting to me because I only fly DL when their fares are much lower than other options, but that is consistently the case 3-4 times per year. I fly between PDX/SNA/SJC/LAS and BWI/LGA/JAX/BOS and, for some reason, they often blow away all of the competition (by a lot) within 2-3 days of flight time and on busy travel days. Perhaps what differentiates me from some of you that have had bad experiences, is that I only fly DL on routes with strong competition.

First, I don't know if your fares are a fair comparison. You could pick roundtrip 7-day advance purchase with a Saturday stay and DL would be more competitive. The examples you choose are more oriented to late notice business travelers who are likely to tolerate a higher fare to avoid an out of the way DEN or PHX connection and a 50%+ chance of at least once CRJ leg.

Yes, DL is pricing fares out of SLC above the competition, particularly UA and HP on flights to the west and F9 on flights to the east. WN is often lower, but the gap is not always significant. Time will tell if customers are willing to pay a premium for a non-stop or if they automatically book at delta.com, without shopping around.

I just booked a one way from MCO to CAK in the latter part of May for relative. DL wanted $130 in a jungle jet, and FL wanted $87 in a 717. FL got the business.

Also, I have noticed that DL between MCO to JFK is quite a lot more expensive than it used to be and I think that it is because B6 have raised their fares quite a bit. Overall, as a small business, DL is getting less of our $$ this year as their prices are way higher in many cases than others airlines.

delete

Delta fares don't require a Saturday night stay. The T fares only require 3 night stay or a Saturday night stay.

Yea..but out of other people's hubs, DL doesn't seem to play the matching game either..

We're not talking about NW's discount transatlantic (which barely anyone ever matches nowdays) but just domestic routes.

Here at CO's home (IAH/HOU) DL rarely even matches CO's X/I fare nowdays.., say for IAH-MCO...

ATL-SEA is outrageous on DL. For that flight directs are great, but not for 60% more (~$330 versus $539). Thankfully AirTran is moving into this market with direct flights at least seasonally for the summer, and DL has been forced to match their $350 fares for these months.

I manage travel for a Fortune 50 company. To answer your question, yes, we'll pay those fares. I just booked three Delta round trip flights from CVG to ERI for $700 a pop. Other companies were half that cost.

So why did I book Delta? Two reasons. The main one is because they offered direct flights at convenient times whereas the others had layovers. When a guy is making $100-200 an hour, it doesn't make economic sense to book a flight that is inconvenient or that has a layover because that ends up being non-productive time. Nor does it make my managers, who devote hundreds of hours of their personal time on an airplane, happy to make them sit and wait in an airport.

The second reason I book Delta is because my managers are all frequent flyers. They have status on Delta because Cincinnati is a Delta hub. Status = privileges and perks. They have a better chance of getting bumped to first class, etc., and the airlines will bend over backwards to make them happy if their flight is bumped, etc. Even though Delta routinely robs us blind, I will usually book through them if possible, because it makes sense to keep the work horses of the company happy.

A lot of companies are cracking down on their employees flying habits, by paying a pencil-pusher to examine each flight and see if there is something a bit cheaper... then forcing one to fly the cheapest available. They call this 'Having a Process'.

Even if the process sticks you with an unnecessary three-hour layover on the way home and don't see your family. They don't care if you burn out --- you can be replaced with someone more tractible.

I can get an 'executive override' which involves bothering some manager over the weekend. But only if it's to get a fare that gets me into a client site early Monday morning instead of Monday late morning.

The Process: micromanage at the level at which people are productive, and avert eyes at the level at which the top folks are manipulating stock prices by massaging earnings, delaying expense reimbursements and outright lying.

Since the new crackdown, my colleagues and I are actually flying more expensive flights :rolleyes: This has involved some fancy footwork to figure out their system, using ITA, and stumping the chumps.

Thanks, was looking at the wrong fare rules.

Well, this is very short sighted of said company. Turnover cost REAL money. But also goes to what is the value of said employee...both from the employee perspective and the employer perspective.
Now, this is the opposite extreme end of this dea. The percentage of flyers making "$100-200 an hour" are so LOW that Delta would be a fool in factoring that in.

You haven't hired an attorney recently. :D

About 99.9% of cases are tried on a local basis with a local attorney.

I was thinking of a corporate attorney type. I wonder what the hourly fee is for the attorneys working on the DL bankruptcy?

The reality is that at some point, "saving" a few dollars actually costs more. This is especially true regarding time and professionals that are billable by the hour.

I happen to be in that $100/hour category, but I usually bill about 50-75% of that when I travel.

Luckly my company is far-sighted enough that I get a great deal of latitude on my choice of travel. Even when AirTran services many of the destinations that I travel to on a regular basis.

If travel is part of my job and I start to get micromanaged, I'll be looking elsewhere very quickly

Dovster just started another thread related to this. His claim is that DL is now forgoing domestic and concentrating on international travel. That means exhorbitantly high domestic fares, and they don't care. :(

Or a consultant.. My company bills me out higher than that range usually..

My rates are in the $100-200/hr, too, but I don't bill my clients for travel time, and I would be very upset if my clients billed me for travel time.

Am I unique?

Not to me. I am not an attorney but I am a consultant. I do not charge my clients for travel domestically, but I can charge an extra day for European travel and 2 days for travel to Asia.

Hold on...what some charges and what it actually costs are two entirely different things. The company I work for DOES charge for travel time but it's a flat rate per trip. And yes, it's in the $100-200 range but I don't get nearly that much.

There are markets that never see the up side of $200 ever.

Are you saying you doctor up "alternative" itineraries in ITA that cost more than your favorite airline to then justify doing what you want?

But we can all assume you follow all of your firm's other policies and rules? Just the airline ones get gamed?

I wondered how many other managers in your company can do the same in making their purchasing choices. Or how many DELTA managers could do something like that in running their departments?

Ahh, I follow the firm's regulations to the letter. It is better to have a job than to fiddle a bit, and then not have a job.

The point that I made was that a new regulation which did not make sense was introduced, in an attempt to fix a problem that did not exist.

Before, we really did care about flying economically. Now, judgement has been taken out of our hands.

In this case who does "they" refer to. If it is Delta, then they definitely do care. They, and every other carrier, definitely wants high domestic fares (and high international fares....and high everything fares)....that is way this works.

I think you are wrong and need to clarify the definition. Is this making $100-200 for their own salary or making $100-200 for the company (payrate vs billing rate). Most anyone travelling as a consultant has a BILLING rate over $100, and in reality that is what employers care about. Because most at this end of the pay scale are on salary so they cost their employer the same sitting in an airport as in their office. But if Bob is sitting at the airport he isnt MAKING me $200 an hour they care about.

I am a consultant and dont bill my clients for my travel time, but am starting to think about doing it (at a lesser rate than I charge them for my time on site). I am spending a LOT of time traveling and losing a lot of potential billable time to it

Well, unless you are going to be working on site at $200/hour on that day and if you get there later, you work less then this isn't an issue. As you say, most are salaried, so if you have a travel day, it doesn't matter to the company how long it takes you from a purely dollars standpoint.

We charge travel time but we do it at a flat rate of 20 hours per trip....so again it doesn't matter how long it takes.

I have noticed this too. I'm flying to EUG for work(in Corvallis), and driving up to PDX and staying the weekend for some fun. (I haven't been to PDX since 1996!) Then I have to drive back to Corvallis for a few more days of work and then I'm flying home from EUG. The cheapest I could find was $469 for my flight. I think those were "L" fares too, and I think the most I've ever paid per MQM, over 37¢!

So I decided to fly a friend up to PDX to meet me for the weekend, DL wants $433 for a SLC-PDX friday pm to sunday pm. WN on the same flight times $218. That's a no brainer.

I know DL needs to raise fares, and I'll pay up to $50 more to fly DL on the short hops, heck, I'll pay $50 more buying friends tickets on DL, because I'm a loyal customer, but I sure as heck won't pay twice as much!

Having worked for several software firms over my career, I am use to billing 1/2 of normal hourly rate for travel time.

- RS

I agree that delta.com's fares are always high but I have been able to book them through local online travel agencies (in HNL, for me it's PandaOnline) and get much cheaper fares. It might be a regional thing for HNL, but I've been able to get good fares cross country HNL-IAD.

Example 1: 4/5-4/12 HNL-LAX on delta.com = $649.30. Same flights from pandaonline.com = $371.52

Example 2: 4/2-4/5 HNL-IAD on delta.com = $987.91. Same flights from pandaonline.com = $689.74

Maybe someone can help explain why these smaller travel agencies can get better fares than what delta.com offers. I wish for DL to adopt the best fare guarantee like NW.

Wow, Pandaonline is great. I checked CVG to OGG for 11/10-11/18/06 and their price was $728/pp. Delta's fare was $1009.

I'm bookmarking that site for future reference!