Airline prices & flight times is the new challenge

[Oldsweets]

We are in Ohio and have had tremendous success with finding both good flight times and great pricing until now.  Now, we see difficult flight options and pricing that is through the roof with increases as much as double previous pricing.  A round trip to Miami was a great deal at under $500 per couple and now hard to find a workable flight for $900.   Pricing and flight options are so bad we are searching flights before we search cruise options and suspect this will be a boon for bookings those of you not needing flights to ports but a drag on cruise bookings.  We understand the why’s and that time will likely cure or improve this but still pinches the travel,plans.  Are others seeing this same pattern as you look at flight options?

[Soxfan04]

Absolutely seeing the same thing. I’m in Boston and anywhere for Florida departures we could fly down for under $300 RT. Now for our August cruise, flights are averaging $400-$450 pp. even spirit is over $475 pp. I work at the airport and when I asked an American Airlines rep she said expect that throughout the summer. They are predicting a huge boom in flying, this summer especially. I have found booking one way separately has been a bit cheaper. Flying down we paid $130pp on delta. But coming back is more than double when you need to look at times.  I have noticed they are adding more flights in the summer months. For example American currently only flys to Miami 3 times a day. That changes in the coming months to over 5 times a day. 

[mondello]

Airlines got smart and reduced capacity to drive up prices. A lot of our flights seem fuller than they used to. There are low prices reflecting low demand on Tues/Weds/Thurs. I grabbed a one way flight to Houston for our first cruise from Galveston. $151 X 3. Even got $200 statement credit with new Southwest credit card. That flight has since more than doubled and the return flight prices shot up, too. I searched multiple options including returning to other cities. Ended up booking HOU to Nashville at $93 X 3. I'll rent a SUV for 24 hours and make the 5-6 hour drive home. Time is money but, this option saves money even if I get a hotel, not to mention meals and gas. I can cancel with Southwest and have a year to use the credits if I can find a better option. The return is Sat/Sun so, no rush. 

[firefly333]

I got someone on a generic Galveston group and some family missed their flights and didnt board and mad at the cruiseline for not giving them a credit. They booked thru a large ta who booked the flight the day of the cruise. Flight didnt have enough crew and they didnt make the cruise.

 

Sure not the cruiselines fault. Fly in the day before. Dont take chances.

[Cruzlover7]

We fly from Buffalo NY and purchased cheap one way flights on Southwest. Had same day flight for May 7 embarkation day.  We typically do not do same day but, we feel with no snow in May , we would be good.  We were supposed fly out at 6:30 am and got notice yesterday that the flight changed.  Now we do not get into Orlando until 12:15.  The only other earlier flight available is not nonstop and gets in at 1:00.  
I also noticed the prices are almost triple for flights that day.  I guess I need to either switch to one day earlier or find another airline to get us there before noon.  I know if all goes well we would make it to the ship in time, but I am nervous about it. 

[Drazil65]

Supply and demand with everyone wanting to start traveling again.  Be careful what you ask for I guess, but hey, finally back to normal right!!  LOL..it's better than not traveling for sure.  

[Oldsweets]

Great feedback and good luck cruzluver7 and safe travels.  We have also seen limited success with one ways on using different airlines and at time adding in a hotel stay but it all involves investing a lot of homework before we even look at actual cruises.  Given we try and use casino offers we get a general idea of locations and dates and then work flight options hard first.  Just did that for early June and decided the a $1,000 flight and taxi ride wasn’t worth the cruise so scratched that and are looking at other options.  The strangest we had was just a week ago when we pulled the trigger because we are traveling with specific dates with in-laws for an early April Miami cruise and the flights were over $900 per couple.  Thank goodness the cruise  was a good deal!  Two week later we found flights going into Charleston under $400 per couple.  Too bad Charleston didn’t have a cruise that worked with the dates in early April.   It does feel good when you can weave a reasonable priced trip plan together but  we are certainly having more frustrated failures then successes. Thanks again for the positive and informative feedback.

[2wheelin]

8 minutes ago, Oldsweets said:

Great feedback and good luck cruzluver7 and safe travels.  We have also seen limited success with one ways on using different airlines and at time adding in a hotel stay but it all involves investing a lot of homework before we even look at actual cruises.  Given we try and use casino offers we get a general idea of locations and dates and then work flight options hard first.  Just did that for early June and decided the a $1,000 flight and taxi ride wasn’t worth the cruise so scratched that and are looking at other options.  The strangest we had was just a week ago when we pulled the trigger because we are traveling with specific dates with in-laws for an early April Miami cruise and the flights were over $900 per couple.  Thank goodness the cruise  was a good deal!  Two week later we found flights going into Charleston under $400 per couple.  Too bad Charleston didn’t have a cruise that worked with the dates in early April.   It does feel good when you can weave a reasonable priced trip plan together but  we are certainly having more frustrated failures then successes. Thanks again for the positive and informative feedback.

We fly out of Minneapolis, a Delta facility and still our MIA flight is over $500/person. We arrive in MIA at midnight and fly out the morning after the cruise to get that price. Never used to pay over $300 RT. Flying home day of disembarkation was $250 more each. Airlines definitely know what days the ships come in and afternoon flights are skyrocketing. We got these prices several months ago and now three weeks out they are over $1000 each way!

[FlyerTalker]

58 minutes ago, 2wheelin said:

Airlines definitely know what days the ships come in and afternoon flights are skyrocketing.

 

Urban legend that airlines raise prices on cruise days.

 

Instead, what you have is a combination of two factors.  Cruiselines have contracts that take up a minor portion of the available lift into/out of cruise airports, so overall inventory is a bit lower.  However, that is not the main factor as to why prices are higher.....it's because the available inventory in the lower priced fare buckets is sold out to other customers, who already had bought their tickets.

 

Note how it is the "desirable" times and routings that are priced higher.  Why?  Because other people wanted them as well and they bought the lower priced inventory already.  Supply and demand - Econ 101.

 

There is no special "screw the cruise passengers" pricing in effect.

[2wheelin]

3 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Urban legend that airlines raise prices on cruise days.

 

Instead, what you have is a combination of two factors.  Cruiselines have contracts that take up a minor portion of the available lift into/out of cruise airports, so overall inventory is a bit lower.  However, that is not the main factor as to why prices are higher.....it's because the available inventory in the lower priced fare buckets is sold out to other customers, who already had bought their tickets.

 

Note how it is the "desirable" times and routings that are priced higher.  Why?  Because other people wanted them as well and they bought the lower priced inventory already.  Supply and demand - Econ 101.

 

There is no special "screw the cruise passengers" pricing in effect.

You’re saying non cruisers buy their air tickets further ahead than cruisers? Yes, supply and demand and the airlines absolutely know when the demand is based on cruise schedules. When morning flights are $200 and the same afternoon flight is $1024, yeah who would choose afternoon but a cruise passenger who cannot be there in the am. Sure, they don’t “target” cruisers but just the times cruisers need. The airline determines the size of the bucket.

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, 2wheelin said:

You’re saying non cruisers buy their air tickets further ahead than cruisers?

 

No...it's other cruisers who are buying up cheap buckets.  Why do you think you are the only one buying - others beat you to it.

 

But you are sure they are out to get cruisers. 

 

PS:  Being in a fortress hub means that you will often get higher pricing on your flights.  Check out other carriers besides Delta.  Oh, you mean you want both low prices AND non-stops.

[2wheelin]

7 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

No...it's other cruisers who are buying up cheap buckets.  Why do you think you are the only one buying - others beat you to it.

 

But you are sure they are out to get cruisers. 

 

PS:  Being in a fortress hub means that you will often get higher pricing on your flights.  Check out other carriers besides Delta.  Oh, you mean you want both low prices AND non-stops.

I’m not talking about pricing two weeks out. If the prices are high nine months out, they never were low. 
Believe me, I know how to check all airlines and compare prices, including baggage fees and there were none better. And the line of comments here was about the difference in pricing now vs previous times. No need to get nasty about it. I know what flights were in the past and I know what they are now. Apples to apples. 

[zdcatc12]

14 hours ago, mondello said:

Ended up booking HOU to Nashville at $93 X 3. I'll rent a SUV for 24 hours and make the 5-6 hour drive home. Time is money but, this option saves money even if I get a hotel, not to mention meals and gas.

You may want to include the additional surcharge of the one-way car rental, because, except for Florida rentals, there usually is a pretty hefty one.

[mondello]

49 minutes ago, zdcatc12 said:

You may want to include the additional surcharge of the one-way car rental, because, except for Florida rentals, there usually is a pretty hefty one.

I'm okay with the prices I'm seeing for just a one day rental. I could still find a better flight that works for us.

[mondello]

Sure it is supply and demand but, they know cruisers can not make a 5:00am return flight out of Houston. That same cheap flight is a lot more for those willing to consider flying home a day later. These cheap cruise prices makes it a little easier to swallow the higher cost of flights.

[Free2bMeForever]

20 minutes ago, mondello said:

Sure it is supply and demand but, they know cruisers can not make a 5:00am return flight out of Houston. That same cheap flight is a lot more for those willing to consider flying home a day later. These cheap cruise prices makes it a little easier to swallow the higher cost of flights.

Just a thought, but how many “non-cruisers” are interested in taking a 5 AM flight on a weekend?  Maybe that plays into the cheap pricing more than cruisers not being able to make an early flight.  Quite frankly, I don’t see airlines putting much into pulling data on cruise dates when it’s so easy for them to analyze actual purchase trends.  Of course, I could certainly be way off base.

[mondello]

1 minute ago, Free2bMeForever said:

Just a thought, but how many “non-cruisers” are interested in taking a 5 AM flight on a weekend?  Maybe that plays into the cheap pricing more than cruisers not being able to make an early flight.  Quite frankly, I don’t see airlines putting much into pulling data on cruise dates when it’s so easy for them to analyze actual purchase trends.  Of course, I could certainly be way off base.

Of course they're not out to get us. The influx of cruisers definitely effects traffic. Peak demand/peak prices. Same with cruises, summer and holiday prices are higher. I'll pay the price but, I don't have to be happy with it. People just lamenting the cost when it used to be fairly common to find great prices to Florida. I find it better to B2B sometimes to justify the cost/stress of travel.

[Hawaiidan]

On 2/19/2022 at 4:55 AM, Oldsweets said:

We are in Ohio and have had tremendous success with finding both good flight times and great pricing until now.  Now, we see difficult flight options and pricing that is through the roof with increases as much as double previous pricing.  A round trip to Miami was a great deal at under $500 per couple and now hard to find a workable flight for $900.   Pricing and flight options are so bad we are searching flights before we search cruise options and suspect this will be a boon for bookings those of you not needing flights to ports but a drag on cruise bookings.  We understand the why’s and that time will likely cure or improve this but still pinches the travel,plans.  Are others seeing this same pattern as you look at flight options?

Its called Dynamic Pricing..........they all have it and hotels too.    Based on connections , time, aircraft there can be 3-5 different prices  from the same airport the same day and to the same destination   For example  here in California   LA...    with  6 airports within 100 miles   there were  35 different prices the same day to the same place.  

Now, with Demand  or Dynamic pricing... it depends now when you buy the ticket... the sooner the better   I have seen prices go up $700 pp from December to Feb  for a August flight...  All based on demand for those flights    Small blocks of Ticket like 4-6 are sold off in tiers...   cheapest price  then the the next block ++  and so on    So NOW  with Demand pricing  buy earily  or you mightbe in the 4th or 5 th block price !!!  a Non stop or with few connections will now cost you$$$$   Same with hour of departure        Book for earily morning or red eye and with long connections to save

[Zach1213]

8 minutes ago, Hawaiidan said:

Now, with Demand  or Dynamic pricing... it depends now when you buy the ticket... the sooner the better  

 

Eh, not always. Often, the day fares are launched (such as 330 days ahead) are not always the cheapest. Airlines often use that time to feel out the market, and prices can absolutely go down over those first several months. It's when someone says "I am going to Florida in May and it's already late-February and demand is skyrocketing at a pace never seen before in aviation history" that I say "yeah...those prices aren't coming down". 

 

There are times prices come down. Sooner isn't always better. But in this situation, it probably is. 

[Hawaiidan]

8 minutes ago, Zach1213 said:

 

Eh, not always. Often, the day fares are launched (such as 330 days ahead) are not always the cheapest. Airlines often use that time to feel out the market, and prices can absolutely go down over those first several months. It's when someone says "I am going to Florida in May and it's already late-February and demand is skyrocketing at a pace never seen before in aviation history" that I say "yeah...those prices aren't coming down". 

 

There are times prices come down. Sooner isn't always better. But in this situation, it probably is. 

Ya, been a frequent flyer for 40 yr and Starting recently Dynamic pricing   ( buy the soner the better and with the  unpopular times    and long connections seems the rule.   There will be exceptions  to any rule but NOT many.   At least not for the nest 2 years  of my booking    I wait 45 days from release to buy as optimal now.  

 Too, If your a loyal member of an airline FF  group that there are  many times that you can get special pricing that is not shown on the web site like UA. ( which I use)     

I have had flight changes to a more expensive ticket  changed from a fare hundreds less  because of loyalty to that airline  that would have been un available to on line booking   You have to call and speak to an agent to get the real price that may be available today....   

The airlines ade getting rid of old wide bodies and opting for smaller A219-20  EMB175  and 737's  in order to increase loads and demand pressure ( pricing)    I used to live in Kona...  we were served by 777 and 767's and  now many Hawaii flights are 737 !