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How the hell are Southwest and JetBlue "low cost" airlines?!
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There was a show on MSNBC yesterday, a day in the life of American Airlines. The CEO was acting like he was going to love the day SWA finally ran out of the hedged fuel costs they bought years in advance.
It was a really interesting show about airlines if you ever get a chance to watch it.
EDIT: It was actually CNBC http://www.cnbc.com/id/18576787/
The comparison is actually worse than that, because the OP is comparing to a single data point of the absolute cheapest way to make the trip, not directly comparing to the prices offered by competitors.
So a closer analogy would be comparing Newegg to whatever happens to be cheapest on Pricewatch, then concluding that Newegg is expensive because on the one item you checked they are more expensive than the absolute cheapest provider.
runzwithsizorz
Diamond Member
Wife, and I recently flew Southwest. Non-stop Norfolk, to Las Vegas, a little more than $300 each, round trip, booked a month out, not bad, imo. Something we did not know is that Southwest, no longer has assigned seating, and to make matters worse, we were given different boarding times. Kinda felt like a cattle car.
The absolute BEST airline I have ever flown,--- Air France
The absolute BEST airline I have ever flown,--- Air France
Found the problem. You need to book about a month to 2 in advance to get rates. Waiting to the last second cost more. Me and wife went to FL for about $240 round trip each.
You can try the name your own price if you do not need a certain time. But even then 2 weeks is cutting it close.
Allegiant only has two primary destinations
Florida and Las Vegas.
They fly to smaller/mid size airports that are geographically aligned with the market.
West of the Mississippi - Las Vegas
East of the Mississippi - Florida (Tampa/Orlando)
There are only a very few airports that service both destinations.
Allegiant is also now nickel and dime you. $20/checked luggage, $4 soda can, $2 water bottle, etc.
Online/phone reservation add $5-15
In Person - Free (but their hours are only around flight times at the airport)
CaffeineAndStuff
Member
Toronto -> Madrid = 7520 miles roundtrip. So at $740 = 0.098 $/mile
Buffalo -> SFO = 4600 miles roundtrip. at $500 = 0.109 $/mile
This is in the same ballpark. with the rise in the cost of fuel get used to paying $500 for a trans-con
LordMorpheus
Diamond Member
Buffalo is a small city, any flights involving smaller cities will be more expensive than flights to and from big cities.
kranky
Elite Member
It's almost impossible to outsmart the airlines regarding ticket prices.
First, you can't compare Orbitz to booking directly. Apples and oranges.
And the airlines can change ticket prices multiple times a day. They have teams of people who analyze statistics to figure out how to maximize their revenue per flight ("yield management" is what they call it). If a flight typically has a large number of last minute customers, then they will hold back a large number of seats at high prices. If a flight has a lot of very early ticket buyers but they know it's going to sell out, they will not make the seats cheap if you buy early. They tweak prices every day so you can't even look around for a few days. The cheap ticket you saw yesterday might be gone now only because you looked the fare up five times already while comparison shopping, and the system saw those five searches as potential buyers and raised the price.
There is no one best approach to get a cheap ticket. But if price is critical, you can help yourself by looking at alternate airports and being flexible with travel dates.
First, you can't compare Orbitz to booking directly. Apples and oranges.
And the airlines can change ticket prices multiple times a day. They have teams of people who analyze statistics to figure out how to maximize their revenue per flight ("yield management" is what they call it). If a flight typically has a large number of last minute customers, then they will hold back a large number of seats at high prices. If a flight has a lot of very early ticket buyers but they know it's going to sell out, they will not make the seats cheap if you buy early. They tweak prices every day so you can't even look around for a few days. The cheap ticket you saw yesterday might be gone now only because you looked the fare up five times already while comparison shopping, and the system saw those five searches as potential buyers and raised the price.
There is no one best approach to get a cheap ticket. But if price is critical, you can help yourself by looking at alternate airports and being flexible with travel dates.
Gibson486
Lifer
I take Jet Blue every year to Orlando or Jacksonville from Boston. It used to cost me $79 to and $49 back. Last year it was more expensive so I pais $114 (using jet blue) to and $79 back (using Southwest). You just have to buy it at the right time. I buy around Christmas.
With the low cost airlines, you either have to buy well in advance (atleast 1 month) or last minute.
With the low cost airlines, you either have to buy well in advance (atleast 1 month) or last minute.
poncherelli2
Senior member
FBO's overcharge on their jetfuel (usually per the contract) in lieu of other charges for pilot accommodations and other fees. Its where they make their money, but thats not indicative worldwide price of jetfuel.
sunday i checked for a flight thursday and it was 300$
today i booked the flight (thursday) and its 500$
for discount carriers...ive never found that southwest is any cheaper than traditional airlines. aside from their listed price, they seem to stack on many more taxes/fees/surcharges to their fare. plus the cattle herding mentality... screw swa
today i booked the flight (thursday) and its 500$
for discount carriers...ive never found that southwest is any cheaper than traditional airlines. aside from their listed price, they seem to stack on many more taxes/fees/surcharges to their fare. plus the cattle herding mentality... screw swa
Atomic Playboy
Lifer
Southwest is the best airline in the world. It gives you all the experience of riding a city bus at 300 times the cost. You show up at your gate early, because they tell you to be early. Never mind that they won't be there anywhere near your scheduled departure time. Apparently one of their cost-cutting measures is getting rid of all the clocks in the cockpit.
So then they crowd you onto the plane, and you better hope you can push up to the front of that line, because seating is first come, first serve. It doesn't matter where you sit though, because you're going to be sitting with a class of people that used to be restricted to walking whenever they wanted to get somewhere until "cheap" airlines like Southwest came along. These are people whose last bath was their baptism. You're going to end up crushed between a man so fat, when he sits, he rips the fabric of space-time, and an elderly woman with a broken hearing aid who is going to shout at you about her cats for the next 12 hours.
And it will take 12 hours. It doesn't matter where you go on Southwest, every journey takes the longest possible amount of time. You're flying from Portland to Sacramento, they're going to route you through Reno, and Las Vegas, and Los Angeles, and Phoenix, and Albuquerque, then back up to Reno, then to Seattle, before they come back to Portland and tell you to get off. And you're so frazzled that you think, "What the hell, I must be here," and you get off, and when you realize your mistake and turn around to get back on the plane they close the door and take off without you. So you're running down the tarmac yelling at them, and you know they see you because you can see them laughing and pointing, and they slow down a little to give you a glimmer of hope... and then they speed up and they're gone. There's a special level of hell reserved for bus drivers and Southwest airline pilots.
And speaking of Southwest, a couple years ago they announced that they were going to start charging double fare for fat people because they take up more than one seat. Does that mean they'll offer reduced fares to little people if they're willing to stow themselves safely in the overhead compartment? Seems only fair...
So then they crowd you onto the plane, and you better hope you can push up to the front of that line, because seating is first come, first serve. It doesn't matter where you sit though, because you're going to be sitting with a class of people that used to be restricted to walking whenever they wanted to get somewhere until "cheap" airlines like Southwest came along. These are people whose last bath was their baptism. You're going to end up crushed between a man so fat, when he sits, he rips the fabric of space-time, and an elderly woman with a broken hearing aid who is going to shout at you about her cats for the next 12 hours.
And it will take 12 hours. It doesn't matter where you go on Southwest, every journey takes the longest possible amount of time. You're flying from Portland to Sacramento, they're going to route you through Reno, and Las Vegas, and Los Angeles, and Phoenix, and Albuquerque, then back up to Reno, then to Seattle, before they come back to Portland and tell you to get off. And you're so frazzled that you think, "What the hell, I must be here," and you get off, and when you realize your mistake and turn around to get back on the plane they close the door and take off without you. So you're running down the tarmac yelling at them, and you know they see you because you can see them laughing and pointing, and they slow down a little to give you a glimmer of hope... and then they speed up and they're gone. There's a special level of hell reserved for bus drivers and Southwest airline pilots.
And speaking of Southwest, a couple years ago they announced that they were going to start charging double fare for fat people because they take up more than one seat. Does that mean they'll offer reduced fares to little people if they're willing to stow themselves safely in the overhead compartment? Seems only fair...
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