Oddly expensive flights (SAT-NYC)
 

Having recently moved to NYC, I am new to the UA/CO forum but see more and more of my travel going to CO/UA.

I've noticed that CO's nonstop from SAT to EWR is always ridiculously (IMHO) expensive. I've never seen it for less than $853 when Delta (the only other nonstop airline) frequently has tickets for $299 (and at similar times).

I've tried checking out the fare rules on ITA, but I always get an error. Has anyone noticed similar anomalies? I cannot seriously imagine that demand on SAT-EWR is sufficient to sustain RT tickets for $853.

Thanks for any insight anyone can share.

Cheers.

Airport and/or route monopoly. It's not just SAT...

Also, one way pricing and trips < 3 days to/from EWR will cause artificially high pricing as well

30% base fare increase in 1 month
 

Even though 10 months in advance, I was about to book RT flight from SAV to OAX for Oct. for a 10 day stay and discovered a 30% base fare increase from 1 month ago - from $596. to $770. net total. Lowest base Fare including all taxes and fees had been stable at $596. for previous 3 months - now this. Previous was an E fare which seems to be no more. Now lowest base fare is a W fare. Scanning the fare over the next 10 months, this $770. W fare is the lowest. Is this a new gouging trend by CO. Is there any way to appeal this massive fare increase? (The $596. fare was 15% higher than the previous year of $530. which means about 45% increase in 1 year.)

typically E>W

nope

Airfare are always in the status of flux -- your options are to wait and see if the fares decreases -- they might or might not
or
book with another carrier.

Try alternative airports - SFO on one end, not sure what's on the other

Less airline competition = guaranteed higher prices

Note that today's fare displays are no longer base fares...they're all-in fares (recent change mandated by the feds). This is what I see for a selected 10-day trip in October:

USD 683.40 USD 91.67 USD 775.07

Base fare looks like $683.40, so not as bad as you think.

I almost made the same mistake...OP going to OAX, not OAK lol...

UA fares vs AS fares to Hawaii
 

In the Bay Area, there seems to be a much cheaper way to get to any of the 4 major Hawaiian islands (from San Jose) by using AS than UA. I apologize if other threads have hit on this, but a search today was impressive: Flying SJC-OGG-SJC on AS could be done for $1,283.00---in F---refundable for a trip I was going to do later in October. Same fare on the web with UA----in F---$3,933.00 which included a stop at LAX both ways. A lower fare of $2,476 could be had on UA by doing 2 stops each way.

Question: Is UA impervious to this fare competition or is this an aberrancy in the market place that I don't understand? These fares from SJC to KOA and HNL are much better than UA's flights which leave only 38 miles up the road.

With respect to economy/lowest fares - AS needs lower fares given they're relatively new to that market. UA does tend to match many of their sales, but selectively - only a few months at a time (so october is too far into the future), sometimes select cities (e.g. sfo might not get a match, but sjc will). However, looking at fares now, UA actually has semi-comparable economy fares now.

As far as F fares, it's a different revenue philosophy. UA charges arm and a leg getting a few takers whereas AS charges a much more modest difference but sells out the F cabin weeks before departure. Impossible to say pros/cons of each approach without lots of internal data.

I'm looking at SFO-SLC for the end of March and was shocked to find that the non-stops are ~$900. With a stop in DEN or LAX it drops down to ~$400.

DL's fares are comparably priced. Go figure.

Spring break skiing!....UA figures some will be in a hurry, justifying the N/S fare.

Fair point. I still find it counter-intuitive that the longer flights cost so much less, though.

counter-intuitive is an understatement for most airline pricing policies

The AS nonstops from SEA - Hawaii tend to be more expensive than other carriers, most of which (other than DL to HNL and Hawaiian to OGG/HNL) involve a stop in California.

There are plenty of short-haul flights ex-EWR that are near $1K no matter what time of the year IF they're 3 days or less.

Something is up with fair pricing from ROC to CLT (or vice versa). UA-CO, normally prices at about "market" which is 225-260, if you purchase far enough out, long enough stay etc. Now the "deep discount buckets" aren't being released and lowest price I can find is over $400. What is odd is that pricing by the competitors (including US) has not changed nor has pricing to alternative airports like BUF or GSO, as applicable. Just plain odd .....

Safe Travels