FlyerTalk Forums - Why does it cost more to fly less ?

FlyerTalk Forums (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/index.php)

- TravelBuzz (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travelbuzz-176/)

- - Why does it cost more to fly less ? (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travelbuzz/1306047-why-does-cost-more-fly-less.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by CapetownZA (Post 17875524)

I don't mind to pay slightly more for the direct flight but in this case its a 50% premium for the direct flight. I'm also thinking Delta is taking allot of pax from SAA direct flight to JFK with that price . Anyways i will have fly UA codeshare via Frankfurt to Atlanta not fun but worth the saving.

Given the choice, I would take the extra connection to save some coin..

On the flip of the coin, I'm not saying all airlines charge more for more connections. The charges are slightly higher, but still a bit more..

For example, when jumping islands in Hawaii, it seems to cost more on HA, Island Air, and Mokulele to connect through an island than directly to the island ime.. I've also seen this looking for fares from YYC-MCO on multiple occasions, and other routes as well. The differences can range from a few dollars and up..

Quote:

Originally Posted by BearX220 (Post 17875308)

Name one case of this.

On intra-EU legs, LH has a YQ that's proportional to the number of legs flown. Since the fare itself is much less than the YQ this comes out to a per-leg pricing, discouraging flying with extra stops.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Science Goy (Post 17874132)

Pricing is in principle based on supply and demand between the origin and final destination. Presumably there's more demand for JNB-ATL than JNB-NYC, so the latter costs less even though it involves a stop in ATL.

You CANNOT just skip the ATL-NYC leg; your entire itinerary will be cancelled. However, if a separate roundtrip between NYC-ATL costs less than $500, you could save money by buying two separate tickets like so: JNB-ATL-NYC (ticket 1), NYC-ATL (ticket 2), ATL-NYC (ticket 2), NYC-ATL-JNB (ticket 1). Weird, I know.

Yes, it's based on supply and demand, but not in the say you have stated.

The demand for JNB-NYC is more likely greater than that for JNB-ATL. The supply for JNB-JFK is higher too.

So the corre4ct reasoning is that the escess of supply for JNB-JFK is higher than that for JNB-ATL. Also JNB-ATL is a nonstop monopoly, which also commands a premium.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Palal (Post 17883542)

While that may be true, I seriously doubt that it is the result of discouraging mileage runners. That may be a side result, but not the primary reason. I doubt that any major airline's revenue management department uses the extremely small percentage of mileage runners as a major consideration (if at all) in their pricing decisions.

As Bear pointed out, the claim was that penalising mileage runners was the primary reason for charging more for multi-segment trips. That simply isn't a valid claim.

Quote:

That's all I'm saying. A poster above asserted that some airlines upcharge for multi-segment trips "because some flyers look to book for more points and status," and I challenged this poster to cite evidence. It's a completely baseless, made-up claim.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Palal (Post 17883542)

Per leg pricing is very common for travel passes---one coupon per segment is also an example of per-leg pricing.

Bulk of the cost of short haul flights is fuel for take of. Per segment YQ is better reflection of cost.

There is no indication that such pricing is motivated by the desire to curb mileage running.