JRF

I need to fly to AUS next week. Normally I drive to CLT and pricing usually beats AA by far... Way too expensive to fly from AVL, my home airport.

This time, I was able to fly from my home airport AVL and purchased a first class round trip ticket on DL for just a little more than a one way would have cost on WN from CLT.

Hard to believe... I still am waiting to wake up from this dream.

Often1

Hopefully this will be merged with the perhaps 500 other threads identifying one-off fare anomalies relating to tiny outstations.

Suffice it to say that WN's data (multi-million bytes of it) likely suggest that it can and will sell the seats at the "insane" price you describe. If it can, why on earth would it cut is prices to obtain your business?

JRF

It is not due to a one off, the same thing applies from CLT direct. All the fares I looked at today on WN for 4 locations I have go this month are cheaper on other airlines, and not just from AVL/CLT.

I am wondering if this is a method to try and not sell seats so flights can be easily cancelled or merged due to the MAX8 issue.

Merge that buddy!

Often1

Or people are willing to pay those fares. At least that it was WN's analysis shows. Remember, it is PRASM, not load, which feeds net revenue.

LegalTender

AVL isn't served by Southwest and CLT is no "tiny outstation."

Now, back to the snark.

Tanic

It's insane that you can buy a WGA fare from OAK to OGG for $138.60 at the last minute.

ursine1

Yes. Just as insane as a last minute CLT-AUS WGA fare of $505.

Further demonstrating that fare pricing is dependent upon multiple variables, some of which may not be immediately apparent.

formeraa

I was noticing some higher pricing out of PHX during the summer on WN. As of this morning, there was some noticeably lower pricing on some of my future flights (got $77 in credit just this am on my next 4 flights). So, maybe, some of the pricing is a bit too hgih and people aren't not booking them as expected. But I definitely agree that some of it is potentially due to the MAX8 grounding. Hopefully, Boeing and the FAA will get those safely back in the air soon.

Cledaybuck

smmrfld

lougord99

If you do not define 10 flights a day as a tiny outstation, what is your definition of it?

LegalTender

Belize. Pensacola. Wichita.

Hartford, Providence, Charlotte & Ft. Myers, not really.

JRF

It keeps getting stranger. I can fly on AA from BWI to AUS cheaper than on WN by over $200.

Yes there are fares on AA that are way more, but if I were booking the trip today for later this week, $200 savings each way, well for $400 I am going on AA.

What is going on?

beyondhere

Southwest services that route nonstop and has a hub in BWI, so it's going to charge a premium at times even for the one-stops, and is not going to discount the fares too much, outside of sales, and fares over three weeks in advance. For cheaper fares add a BOS leg to it and go up to Boston. AUS-BWI-BOS and it will likely be cheaper than the AUS-BWI nonstop. AA is basically doing the same thing. Charges less in BWI, but will likely charge a premium in its hub like CLT or PHL. WN will discount fares to stations like BOS and EWR where it doesn't have a hub and its weaker.

I live in between BWI and EWR. Had to fly to OAK. I got an OAK-EWR flight earlier this year for just $129 one way, just two weeks or so before the flight, even though Southwest has over 200 departures from BWI and nonstops to OAK. The trick is to find stations where WN struggles but has a large enough presence and/or where it's a very competitive market. WN's presence in CLT is too small. Try RDU or ATL. I did find a low fare for PHX-ATL for $129 earlier this month just three weeks before the flight.

hotturnip

I've always maintained that WN's reputation as a "low-fare" airline was bogus. When I lived in western PA, the arrival of WN in CLE was greeted with great enthusiasm as a way to lower fares in that CO stronghold. Only a mild effect, if anything at all. Same thing when they came into PIT. Same thing when they took over in ATL. In fact, seemed to me that fares overall went UP after WN took over Airtran.

I would also agree that WN more commonly has bizarre, unexpectedly high fares like this than other airlines. Just personal/anecdotal, but in line with my own experience.