OT - Airline Pricing Nonsense
February 24th, 2010 at 8:23 PM ^
I'm a little surprised that you can fly to Wausau in the first place. Do you land on a nearby lake?
February 24th, 2010 at 8:34 PM ^
Ah yes, good old CWA. I used to fly in there quite a bit with the airline I used to fly for.
February 24th, 2010 at 8:57 PM ^
I guess they figure flying out of Flint requires a discount. I mean, who's flying from Flint to Wausau?
Something similar happened to me when I was trying to decide where to fly into for my class reunion. Flight number Whatever direct to Dulles was like $400, but to connect to Richmond using the same flight to Dulles was about $150 cheaper.
I can sorta see why they'd charge you less to fly from a certain airport, but I never got this one. Assuming I didn't check any bags and I wanted to go to Dulles, what would stop me from buying the Richmond flight instead of the nonstop one and ignoring the connection?
February 24th, 2010 at 9:04 PM ^
You can do this if the flight is only 1 way but if it is 2 way then no that won't work since you'd have to check into the 2nd leg of the journey first...
February 24th, 2010 at 9:20 PM ^
when I used to fly 2-3 times a week, if you bought a multi-leg flight and skipped a leg, it would void your ticket until you re-booked, at which point they'll nail you as you have to pay the fee difference in addition to a change fee.
The reason air fare is drastically different between two airports close to each other is a purely economic one. Detroit is a big, busy airport that most would rather fly through so they have the ability to charge higher fees for gates and other services. Its similar for flights into Midway and O'Hare.
February 24th, 2010 at 10:47 PM ^
They're still giving you that same leg, they just give it to you for cheaper if you accept a second leg in addition to it?? How does that make sense? At the end of the day, they're still giving up a seat on a flight out of Detroit or Chicago or Atlanta...?
February 24th, 2010 at 11:12 PM ^
They make the money off of filling that plane up in whatever mid destination.
As an example, its cheaper for me to fly Detroit -> Midway -> Minneapolis than it is for me to fly Detroit -> Minneapolis. That airplane is flying regardless of whether or not its full, and more people would prefer to pay an extra $100 for the convenience (of not having to fly to a random place), timing, etc.
February 24th, 2010 at 11:17 PM ^
Exactly.
Also, detroit and minneapolis are both Delta hubs, so they are pretty much the only direct flight.
February 25th, 2010 at 12:35 AM ^
Your avatar put me into a trance for about 3 minutes. Nice.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:01 PM ^
I live in the Greenville, South Carolina area. The airport here is super small so you can either go to Atlanta or you can go to Charlotte. If you fly from Charlotte to Los Angeles, its around $200, and you fly from Charlotte to Atlanta for a 2 hour layover and then on to Los Angeles. I figured I would save the time and just fly out of Atlanta instead. Flying from Atlanta to Los Angeles is around $450. It makes no sense to me how that even works. I miss the good old days of being able to get direct flights and none of this layover garbage.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:04 PM ^
You can fly out of Greenville through Chicago. I did this last year. That BMW performance driving school you guys have down there is sweet.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:33 PM ^
I actually flew out of the Spartanburg/Greenville Airport one time instead of Atlanta. I was headed on a NWA flight to Montreal. Saved me $150 by flying from there.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:37 PM ^
Greenville has its pluses for sure, but for me to go from Greenville to Los Angeles is not the cheapest option. If you use priceline with Greenville, you can get some killer deals when you name your own price. I flew United from Greenville to Dulles to Detroit for $175 when the retail price was $474. Its not a bad airport, just not the best option for me going to Los Angeles.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:05 PM ^
Yeah, airline pricing makes no sense initially. A good rule of thumb follows:
Direct flights from non-hub to non-hub will be most expensive.
Connecting through a hub will cost less.
Hub to hub will typically be cheapest.
This isn't always true, but I've flown way too much all over the country--and that's the trend I've noticed.
February 25th, 2010 at 8:26 AM ^
Is never cheap. Detroit to Minneapolis is about $1,000! Detroit to Memphis is about $800.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:09 PM ^
My wife is from South Carolina and for us to fly down there via Grand Rapids to Charlotte (only an hour to Columbia, SC) it is around or over $1,000 for the both of us. I don't understand how anyone can afford to fly...it was cheaper to fly when gas prices were up a couple years ago.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:22 PM ^
I actually checked on a flight from Detroit to Greenville, SC today and it was only $230 round trip. I have some relatives in the Clemson area I need to visit.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:34 PM ^
Flying out of Grand Rapids is a scam!
February 25th, 2010 at 12:01 PM ^
I agree it is a scam but it pisses me off coming back from vacation and flying into DTW or ORD...and having to drive 3 hours home.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:55 PM ^
As a Delta Medallion member, I know that direct flights are almost always more expensive than connecting flights. You pay for convenience.
You are flying between small airports. There is less downward pricing pressure due to a lack of supply, so you are stuck paying whatever is available. Thats why a flight from Detroit to Pellston costs the same as one to Phoenix.
If you are flying to close a sale, I assume you're going this week or next. Airlines know that people who book this late in the process have to go (businessmen) and charge more as a result. Tourists will go where they can afford and will plan in advance, so the earlier you book, the cheaper it is.
Consider flying to Eau Claire or Green Bay instead and renting a car. It's only a two hour drive and should probably save you $200 and a drive to Flint.
February 24th, 2010 at 10:02 PM ^
This is all due to accounting.
Airlines need to fill seats on regional flights to keep those flights "profitable". They can attribute some portion of your overall ticket price as revenue for that regional flight, thus helping to make that route profitable at the sake of their more profitable larger flights.
Likewise their cost per passenger on that regional flight goes down with you on it.
I agree that it's not rational and doesn't make sense, but public companies play these accounting games all the time.
February 24th, 2010 at 10:15 PM ^
... Wausau? Are you in the pulp and paper products business? I thought the only thing there was a Georgia-Pacific plant. We have sold them quite a few converting machines recently.
February 24th, 2010 at 10:50 PM ^
Maybe its you that he's flying to meet then? Instead, the two of you should just conduct your meeting on MGoBlog?
February 25th, 2010 at 12:27 AM ^
But should it be a board post or a diary?
February 25th, 2010 at 8:29 AM ^
$100 if he can facilitate a meeting through Mgoblog instead of flying to the middle of nowhere in Wisconsin.
February 24th, 2010 at 10:25 PM ^
I once had to fly round trip from Atlanta to Jackson, MS. the flight was over $1,000. I looked again and found a flight from Atlanta->Jackson, Jackson->Atlanta->Mexico City for $800.
Don't ask...
February 24th, 2010 at 10:53 PM ^
So they expected you to fly from Atlanta to Jackson and then back to Atlanta?
For those who understand airline pricing - Why is the Chicago/LA flight so expensive compared to Chicago/DC? Is it purely because of the longer distance?
February 24th, 2010 at 10:58 PM ^
Not sure if I was clear, but basically I was on a project in Atlanta, and they wanted me to fly from Atlanta -> Jackson (stay in Jackson/Clinton MS for a week, then fly back to Atlanta.) I found a cheaper flight by adding an extra flight at the end (Atlanta to Mexico City.)
February 24th, 2010 at 11:05 PM ^
Its literally twice as far to LAX. Also, a lot of businesses that do work on the west coast tend to staff out off the west coast, so I'd compound that distance effect with lower steady demand, which increases fares.
February 24th, 2010 at 11:35 PM ^
Don't just think about distance in terms of fuel and miles, think about the more precious resource: Time.
You can use the same airplane to make 2-3 MDW-BWI (Smaller, cheaper, less congested airports) in the span of 1 ORD-LAX.
So even if your Chicago->Baltimore run only costs half as much as a Chicago-LA, you can still earn 50% more money because you're using essentially the same resources in a much more efficient manner.
Lots of other considerations as well, but distance/time is a big one.
February 25th, 2010 at 2:15 AM ^
Don't forget TOL. I've often saved myself a bundle by flying from Toledo to either DTW or ORD for a connection to wherever. Doesn't always work, but it never hurts to check. Plus, TOL is so tiny that you can park practically at the front door. The time you save in the airport more than makes up for the extra half hour of driving (from A2).
In Aug 2008, I got a flight to Kansas City by flying Flint-Detroit-Minneapolis-KC. Yeah, I was taking my chances with all those connections, but the fare was right around $200. A non-stop from DTW was like $375 IIRC.
February 25th, 2010 at 6:14 AM ^
Consider this - couple of years back I needed a one-way ticket to Tulsa. The one way ticket was about $500 - however, the return ticket with any random return date was about $250! So guess what I did - took the return ticket and did not show up for the return flight.
More recently, a Milwaukee - Chicago - New Delhi ticket was some 300 bucks cheaper than a straight Chicago - New Delhi ticket.
Airline folks are crazy! I blame all the pricing models, yield management and load management stuff that consultant have pushed down Airlines' throat past 10-15 years.
February 25th, 2010 at 8:58 AM ^
I live in Kalamazoo and fly frequently to Buffalo. I always fly Delta/Northwest. Here was the pricing for much of last year:
Kalamazoo to Buffalo (connect in Detroit) -- $1,000
Detroit to Buffalo direct -- $1,100
Lansing to Buffalo (connect in Detroit) -- $208!!!!
I drove to Lansing a lot last year.
February 25th, 2010 at 9:16 AM ^
Similar thing happened to me. I had a round trip direct from Chicago to San Diego at about $800. I have a friend who works at United who told me to look into prices for flights on the way back that connect through O'Hare. I found a flight that was direct from Chicago to SD (same time as before), but was from SD to LaGuardia with a lay-over in Chicago (same time as before , for about $500. So, on the way back, I got off the plane in Chicago and never get on my flight to NYC. What a waste!
February 25th, 2010 at 12:10 PM ^
What about your bags?
February 25th, 2010 at 12:26 PM ^
I prefer Biblical caravan travel to flying even if it does take a month to get anywhere.
February 25th, 2010 at 2:21 PM ^
i work for an airline and have a aerospace mangement degree.
someone said it all has to do with accounting they were almost right. It has to do with many factors. One is load factor, if the plane from detroit is always full and the demand is high then u jack the price because people are going to fly any how. In flint the population isnt as big and the demand isnt as high so you lower prices in order to make a small profit. Also when a plane lands at an airport the city the airport and the state all charge taxes. Flints taxes might be cheaper then KDTW. It also has to due with the time of day how late your booking the flight and a ton of other factors. Rates will change by the minute. for instence tickets booked at the last minute are so high because the people flying need to go and are going to go no matter what so why not just charge a crazy amount you get more profit off that seat.