Delta from Atlanta

[mbcoors]

Can someone please help me understand why Delta from Atlanta is so expensive? We live just outside Atlanta and go to Aruba every year and every year it is a crap shoot as to what we pay. I'm ecstatic because I just book for March 2012 going for just a week on AA ( Atl to Mia and Mia to AUA) for $460. per person including the taxes. I first tried Delta from Atlanta the non stop flight was $960 per person plus taxes!

I usually support the home team but Delta is getting ridiculous.

[Andrea J.]

sometimes it is time to dump the home team.

arubalisa feels the same way that you do.

[Arubalisa]

C - O -M - P - E - T - T -I - O - N

You need to fly on a day of the week during which Delta has competition from Spirit or Air Tran (soon to be Southwest). We have not been able to take advantage of Air Tran or Spirit's lower fares because we chose to stay more than 7 or 8 nights.

If you go to this link and click on March you will see weekday fares range $812 to $832. Notice how much they drop on weekends?

I priced out SATURDAY December 17 -SATURDAY December 24 on Delta vs. Air Tran
$487.10 Delta
$527.10 Air Tran

My advice, if you are going to stick with Delta, is to get a SkyMiles AMEX and use it as much as possible. This year we traveled on two frequent flier tickets and the third was "pay with miles" which, if you have the card, permits you to pay part miles and the rest cash. OR wait for a sale... right now there is a Delta sale for $367.10

[Angela Munzenhofer]

I use Delta from Michigan to Aruba with a stop in Atlanta and I only pay $460 round trip. It is ridiculous for you to pay as much as you do.

[~Amy~®]

Originally Posted by Angela Munzenhofer

I use Delta from Michigan to Aruba with a stop in Atlanta and I only pay $460 round trip. It is ridiculous for you to pay as much as you do.

That's about what we pay as well on Delta for a MSP-ATL-AUA flight. We have competition from Minneapolis to Aruba on United, USAir, and American. Atlanta only has the competition on AirTran and only on certain days so they've pretty much cornered the market on flights to Aruba from Atlanta. And as long as people will pay the higher prices, they're not going to lower them. Business 101.

[GPSTraveler]

Interesting,

I just did a test booking for March sat mar 17th - sat mar 24th for $527.10 including all taxes and fees. This is certainly too high for this route. I think that when you book this far in advance you get some additional fuel charges that may or may not exist next year.


On the other hand, I did a test booking in September (a much closer date).

wed sept 14 - wed sept 21st, and I get $367.10 including all taxes and fees.

In both examples, I am booking the nonstop Atlanta Delta flight.
You can try to plug in the exact same dates, and see that a cheaper fare IS possible on this flight.

So I think it has something to do with oil price uncertainty, if you book too far in advance.

[Arubalisa]

Originally Posted by GPSTraveler

wed sept 14 - wed sept 21st, and I get $367.10 including all taxes and fees.

That is a SALE fare. Economy (T)

Class "L" and "U" and "regular" discounted coach fares.

The $527.10 fare is a "U" class fare and
actually less than the going rate of "U" class in August (8/6 - 8/13 > 21 days advanced purchase) which is $794.10

When we "shopped" our trip last month the discounted fare from ATL was $605.
I would take the $527 fare over $605.

"Usual" sale fare is about $400 from ATL.

September and October are Low, low season if that makes sense?

[GPSTraveler]

ArubaLisa,

It made perfect sense in post #3. The problem was GPSTraveler read post #1, and quickly posted a response on the thread BEFORE reading all the other responses. GPSTraveler hates it when he does this on a public forum. My Bad. Sorry about that.

I flew to Aruba on a similar Delta fare, probably the previous T sale fare a few months ago. Also I am no airfare guru, but it sounds like the T fare has some disadvantages, and this is why you are warning that it is a sale fare.

The mileage hawks cannot fly a certain fare code because it affects mileage differently, I understand this. The movie "up in the air" comes to mind, or the Flyertalk public forum.

I am in the "just fly the cheapest code you can find and ignore the mileage" crowd of people.

I still can't see the harm in flying T and V fares all over the place, perhaps I need to see the light. Maybe ONE day I will learn.

Originally Posted by Arubalisa

September and October are Low, low season if that makes sense?

[Arubalisa]

I agree with you GPSTraveler. We fly by cheapest airfare, not fare class.

[~Amy~®]

Originally Posted by Arubalisa

I agree with you GPSTraveler. We fly by cheapest airfare, not fare class.

We do the same - and it does not effect us acquiring frequent flyer miles in any way. We get the same miles regardless of fare class booked.