|
No Wonder Delta's Bankrupt!
Delta wants me to pay $600 to fly to Cincinnati, however, if I take that very same flight to Cincinnati PLUS take a connecting flight onward to Columbus the fare is only $270.
If i just hop off the plane in Cincinnati, they will cancel my return ticket. Now why in the world would an airline want to force me to take a seat on a plane that I don't event want, when they could sell that seat to someone else? Why do they charge me LESS to take up seats on two flights instead of just one? Yes I know, it all has to do with their "hubs" and their yields and their rules, but it all gets pretty ridiculous. A hell of a lot of people must fly to Dayton and Columbus when they really want to go to Cincinnati, since it's well worth the $300 savings per person. They could probably cut way down on traffic between these cities if they'd just let people fly where they want to go rather than play these games! |
I agree Delta really has some problems. They just built...and subsequently moved out of half of a new terminal in Boston.
Check out Http://www.trip-information.com for more airline info |
You're right. Many, many people fly into and out of Lexington, Louisville, Indianapolis, Columbus and Dayton because of the different in fares. It used to be a common practice to get a ticket to another city and hop off in Cincinnati instead which is why they won't let people do it anymore. There is even a radio commercial where a local announcer tells people that he always flys out of Louisville because of the different in fares (not sure who sponsers that one). We live very close to the airport and usually the difference in price has only been about $100 which hasn't made it feasible yet for us to drive to another city, but my kids have.
You may want to look into flying into Dayton, especially if you are staying in Blue Ash, if it can save you a feasible amount of money. |
Didn't preview first -- difference in fares, not different.
|
The price difference is due to the "market" competition from wherever you are flying to Columbus (in this case). It has absolutely little to do, if at all, with ground distance traveled or the fact that the flight is routed through Cincinnati.
IS there any other airline you could use to get from the mystical place where you live to Columbus <b>besides</b> Delta? |
Northwest does the same thing. I am leaving for Dallas from DTW tomorrow. If I take the 3pm direct it is $800. If i start in Lansing and pick up the 3pm connection by flight is $280
I do exactly what you mentioned. I have someone drop me off in Lansing and on my return i walk off the plane in DTW! |
US Air through Charlotte is the same. The sales rep for my brother's company drives to the Charlotte airport, picks up a one-way rental, drives to Greensboro (and sometimes RDU), takes the flight from start point through Charlotte to destination, then on the way home hops off the plane in Charlotte. Even with the one-way rental it is much cheaper to do this than fly from Charlotte.
|
I may have told this story on here before...I have to infrequently fly to Hartford on business, my ticket cost was somewhere around $600, direct from Charlotte. So I started checking around, added a couple of days in New Orleans to the end of my trip (connecting in Charlotte of course) & my total cost was something like $480. We also fly out of Greensboro at times (& connect in Charlotte). My travel companion has family in Greensboro, so he just stays there & I get off the plane in Charlotte. Flying in or out of Cincinnati is always painful unless you plan well in advance. Our flights a few weeks ago were $700+ from CLT.
|
AND the government is giving these yahoos our hard earned tax dollars to help them keep up with their outlandish and outdated business practices!!!
|
Welcome to the world of "Hubs". It has nothing to do with distance travelled. It has to do with Cincy being a Delta hub, just like charlotte is a USAir hub. We could go to Greensboro, get on a plane for half the price and stop in Charlotte en route to wherever as others have said. The supposed trade off is that we can get more non-stops to places around the country.
|
Well, we ended up getting a $79 one-way fare from Los Angeles to Indianapolis (with only 2 days advance notice...it was available on USAirways or Air Tran, I guess they're having a war). This fare was listed as $350 on United, but U.S. put us on a United flight...so go figure? We noticed that they never told us to go and check in at United, we had figured that part out ourselves however. It is two very different terminals at LAX.
Oh these airlines! Anyway, one-way car rental from Indianapolis to Cincinnati was only $20 from national, it was a pleasant 95 minute drive and we got to stop at Ritter's frozen custard! ------------- Now the return trip. We came home from Nashville, and the fare with a 10 day advance notice was $99 one way on American. nonstop. The person sitting next to us said she paid $350 round trip with 3 weeks advance notice. The fares just make no sense. Period! |
USAirways and United code share.
|
Here is my Delta story. Last month I booked a last minute flight from Tel Aviv to San Francisco for an employee. It was Thursday night when I booked it for a Tuesday departure the next week. The agent would not:
1) sell me a ticket (we can't do etickets this close to a flight -- what?) 2) would not "lock in" the price" so wanted my employee to go to the ticket office in Tel Aviv on Sunday and who knows what the price would have been at that point. I nicely asked to speak to a supervisor, who said she could sell me a ticket, price guaranteed, and for a $75 fee my employee should show his ID and pick up said ticket on Sunday. I don't know why the Delta ticket agent didn't know this and why I had to talk to a supervisor (spending the obligatory hold period on the phone.) to figure out how to buy a ticket. Take the money, book the ticket. It is Tel Aviv, that location might have unusual restrictions for ticketing, but to refuse to guarantee the price was really ridiculous. Sharon |
Yes, it is really silly, isn't it. Much of my family lives about half way between Cincinnati and Dayton. They learned long ago that to fly down to Ft. Myers, they must book round trip from Dayton. Then going home they get off at Cincinnati, and don't get on their final plane. They have someone pick them up in Cincinnati. They usually save a couple hundred dollars each this way. Dumb, isn't it?
|
All the airlines do this. I can fly almost anywhere air-tran flies for less than flying to Atlanta on air-tran, even though every flight takes me through atlanta. When I asked their customer service department they said its all marketing. and if you get on the plane at point A with a ticket to pint C, and get off at point B, your luggage is going to point C. and you must board at the city the flight originates at, not the city it stops. It blows my mind too. then again, sometimes I can fly to Europe for less than Boston or philadelphia, which is 400 miles from my home. Go figure.
|
I think you hit the nail on the head Sharon, it is Tel Aviv.
|
Yes I know that they code share. My point was that United wanted $350 for a United ticket, while US Air put me on the exact same United flight for $79. Just another crazy way that they do business that doesn't make sense.
And, if US Airways issues you a "U.S. Airways" ticket and gives you U.S. Airways flight numbers, they should tell you in advance if you have to check in at United five terminals away. They wonder why the terminals are jammed...it would help if they told people where to show up for their flights if it is not at the airline counter shown on their ticket! Might be easy for those who fly a lot, but if you don't...like many people...adding more confusion to the mix certainly doesn't help. |
Hi tracys2cents
Just wondered how your trip went to Children's Hospital. Where did you end up staying? |
| All times are GMT -8. The time now is 12:15 AM. |