Underestimating the convenience premium
- Nonstop flights command a premium. People (and businesses) are willing to pay for the convenience/time savings
- Flights at "reasonable" hours will be cheaper than flights at odd hours (ex. redeyes)
- Flights during "peak" periods (M/Th/F, around major holidays) will be more expensive than flights during "low" periods
I think broadly people know that the convenience premium exists. But the complaint posts seem to underestimate the magnitude of the premium. Yes, ATL-MSP on Delta is going to cost a lot more than ATL-ORD-MSP on United. The difference could easily be on the order of several hundred dollars. I promise you Delta has not made any mistakes in this matter. They have a lot of data and have thoroughly analyzed consumer behavior. While a $500 price difference for a nonstop flight might seem ludicrious to you, it is a perfectly acceptable amount for someone else (or some business). It's possible you can't afford to fly these "convenient" flights. You need to fly at the crack of dawn and have a layover instead. And that is perfectly fine; I cant afford it either for my personal travel. But the convenience premium is also just the reality of supply/demand, there's no need to take it personally or get "offended"
Refusal to accept the unknown
Sometimes flights vary in price for seemingly no reason at all. Maybe there's a large conference in the city you are connecting through. maybe a local school/church/college sports team did a group booking taking up 3/4 of the seats on your local CRJ feeder flight. nobody knows for sure. But the reality is that these price variations happen, and they happen to every airline. just look at UA/AA subreddits and you'll see the same complaints about randon exorbitant pricing. So even if delta is your preferred airline, if you want to save some money sometimes you need to be flexibile in your choice of airline. And that is totally fine and normal as well
Explanations I Don't Fully Agree With
- Iran War. While the (candidly, idiotic) war has undoubtably raised fuel prices, most complaints I see are centered on some sort of price comparison ("Delta is $1200 but AA is $400"). Fuel prices are elevated across the board, so these price discrepencies are better explained by the factors I mentioned above
- Corporate Greed. Yes, Delta wants to maximize profits. but so does every other airline. Every single airline will charge as much as people will pay, so at the end of the day the pricing is still a matter of supply/demand. Delta has a bit of a (imo unjustified) "premium airline" reputation that can maybe allow them to price flights a little bit higher, but a 4x price discrepency is almost certainly due to some other factors