Just how do these airline tickets make sense?

[Wade Lippman]

I live in a cold northern city, with no warm weather in the forecast, and I am getting really sick of it. Sure, the skiing is the best it has ever been, but that just isn't enough. Yesterday I booked a flight to a reasonably warm southern city for a few days next week, changing planes in a major hub; all for $200. I think just seeing trees with leaves and not wearing a coat will be nice.

Just out of curiosity I checked the price of my flights to and from the hub, and to and from the hub to the destination. The first were $750, and the latter $600. How does that make sense? If they think the seats are sufficiently in demand to charge $1,350 for them, why did they sell them to me for $200? And if they don't think they can sell the seats, why not reduce the prices to for the two halves?

My flights are $450 today, apparently that is because it is no longer 7 days advance, but still... If they can't sell them for $200, how do they expect to sell them for $450? There can't be that many business travelers who have to book at the last moment.

[Brian Elfert]

Planes are running full or nearly full on most routes so they are selling the seats. Don't try to make sense of airline pricing. It will just drive you nuts.

Disney is starting to do variable pricing for theater seats just like airlines do with airplane seats. The price for most seats in the theater changes for every show based on a computer program that can predict what is the most profitable price for that seat for that day. Lion King is one of the most profitable shows on Broadway even though the most expensive ticket is less than other Broadway shows.

[Harold Burrell]

Nothing about airline pricing makes sense (to me anyway). Take your $200 tickets for example...I can never find deals like that. ;)

[Lee Schierer]

We've often noticed that we can fly from our city through another city 90 miles away and then on to our destination cheaper than you can fly from the nearby city to the same destination on the same flight. I don't try to figure it out, I just enjoy the savings.

[Brian Elfert]

Delta operates a major hub here in Minneapolis. One can often get a cheaper fare flying from some place like Detroit Lakes, MN than flying from Minneapolis to the same destination. The thing is the flight from Detroit Lakes will transfer to another flight in Minneapolis. If I fly the same flight from Minneapolis as the customer from Detroit Lakes I will usually pay more even though the other customer flew more miles and had an extra leg on their journey.

[David G Baker]

The prices are good but you may get nailed for baggage or any other thing that they can charge you for. My wife got a round trip ticket to Atlanta form Michigan that cost $238 for the round trip. It ended up costing a total of around $340 due to the hidden fees. It was still a good deal though. Not sure I could have made the trip by driving for much less than the plane ride cost.

[Scott Stewart]

Starting/ending in a hub always costs more than going through one. Back when St louis was a hub, I could always fly out of Kansas city for about $200 cheaper than I could St. Louis.

[Myk Rian]

It usually costs us just under $400 ea. to fly from Detroit to Denver.
This year we're going from Detroit to Phoenix. Take a coach tour ending in Vegas.
From there flying to Denver, then to Detroit. All for under $400 ea.
I let my Wife do the ticket shopping.

[Brian Tymchak]

My flights are $450 today, apparently that is because it is no longer 7 days advance, but still... If they can't sell them for $200, how do they expect to sell them for $450? There can't be that many business travelers who have to book at the last moment.

You don't mention what city you are flying to but, yes, there can be that many travelers that will book and change flights at the last moment. It's been quite a while (thankfully) but when I was doing onsite support for AT&T, there were many, many times that I would have 1 or 2 day notice of flying someplace, or needing to change my departure time 2 or 3 times on the day of the flight. Now, that was before all the change fees were adopted, but, the nature of business travel tends to be last minute. And the airlines know it, and that's why the ticket prices rise so dramatically in the week prior to the flight.

[Wade Lippman]

On a similar concept...
I reserved a car with Thrifty for $48 a day. I checked yesterday, and was able to reduce it to $39. Today I got $36. I can't wait until tomorrow!
Its kinda of like a hobby...

[Jim Matthews]

When I lived near Albany, I flew Southwest.

I find that airports serviced by Southwest have more rational pricing,
from all carriers. It's when you get caught in the regions where
it's almost as fast to just drive as to fly that pricing is maddening.

FYI - Best day of skiing in my life was at Gore Mountain.
Fresh tracks, four + hours and never a wait for the Gondola.

Compared to Powder hunting in the 1980-2000s, it was spectacular.
That, and I didn't have to fly to get there.

That's always a plus - not flying.

[Wade Lippman]

FYI - Best day of skiing in my life was at Gore Mountain.
Fresh tracks, four + hours and never a wait for the Gondola.


I've been to Gore twice. Both times the upper part of the mountain was polished ice. Not "icy", but like a nicely finished skating rink; the sign at the top warning that if you fall you will slide into the woods at the bottom was intimidating. I may have skidded my turns a bit.

A couple years ago I got a Southwest credit card that came with two free roundtrip tickets. My wife used one to fly to California for free. The other has expired but can be revived for $50. I am not really sure how it can be used; I ought to give them a call.

[Brian Elfert]

Southwest came to Minneapolis and it hasn't lowered the big boy's pricing by much. Delta pretty much owns the Minneapolis market. Delta has proposed taking over the entire main terminal and moving all other airlines to the smaller terminal. Airport commission didn't approve and I don't know if they still want to do it.

I last flew Southwest because I was able to transfer Marriott reward points to Southwest reward points. Southwest has a great frequent flyer program as they will sell any seat for points. The amount of points required varies based on the dollar value of the tickets.