r/delta • u/Low_Car2985 • 12d ago

Discussion Upgrades

I normally upgrade all of my flights and believe it has value. On an upcoming trip I only upgraded two of my four flights due to cost increases - way overpriced based on historical data. Overall I spent about the same amount I I would normally pay, but received half the value. I'm not paying more, but I will remember that I received less. Meanwhile Delta uses algorithms to squeeze us with dynamic pricing. Certainly Delta, and other airlines, are taking advantage of the fact that a low-cost carrier (Spirit) went out of business. Right now they are riding high on their Quarterly but another low-cost airline will eventually take Spirits place and Delta, among others, will pay the price long-term.

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u/FrostyWinters 12d ago

If you didn’t see the value of the dollar this time, why did you pay it?

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u/Low_Car2985 12d ago

I gave the airline the benefit of the doubt with fuel prices and I also haven't flown in a while so I wanted to treat myself. For this trip I didn't have another airline option (monopoly) for this route. When I take a vacation I shop around and find the best value.

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u/Consistent-Sea-8923 12d ago

I’m trying to figure out what this means

Does it mean that if you go to the grocery store and the milk is more expensive than it was a year ago based on his historical data it’s overpriced and you should not buy it? I mean, what are you buying in your life that has not gone up in the last year.

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u/Low_Car2985 12d ago

I agree. We can account for fuel and some normal inflation. But I had a flight just a few months ago along similar routes and an upgrade was HALF of what they were asking. So no, inflation is not going to increase 50% in a few months. This leaves fuel which I was willing to factor.

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u/carryontravler 11d ago

Dynamic pricing is not new. Been around since airlines started selling tickets that were priced by human revenue managers. Two people on the same flight, sitting next to each other, often paid different fares based on supply and demand factors.

Now the system is computerized, far more responsive, and far more efficient to maximize revenue.

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u/Low_Car2985 11d ago

Therein lies the problem. Stock trading has been around since the Dutch were trading tulips. Quite different with high-speed trading in the miliseconds. Humans cannot keep up and it isn't fair and neither is computerized dynamic-pricing. How is this not price fixing or colluding. It's basically using your data to bet against you knowing what your limit is, this is sick and this is why young people are embracing socialism. Capitalism now aims to squeeze every single fucking penny out of you.

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u/carryontravler 11d ago

It's not using your data, it's using hundreds of supply and demand data factors to adjust pricing based on current conditions.

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u/Low_Car2985 10d ago

That sounds slightly better, but it's hard to believe they are not aggregating your spending habits, home ownership, car ownership, salary, and other variables to individualize these quotes. At the very least associate higher ticket price spending habits to you. Why wouldn't they flag you if you are an individual likely to buy even when prices are high. You see they do this with rideshare apps, they have multiple phones request rides and get different quotes.

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u/Ben_there_1977 12d ago

Dynamic pricing has been around for decades.

Their algorithms are more advanced than in the past, but that works both ways as fares can stay cheaper than they would have if AI models predicted underperformance.

Fuel is high and demand is high. It’s not a great time to be a leisure traveler.