Can someone explain this crazy air fare pricing?

[pure]

Finding a one way flight to OKC from southern California for December 21 and this REALLY confuses me...

If I fly out of LAX on United on Dec. 21, UA6376 is the 7:15 PM nonstop to OKC and it costs $395 and this is the cheapest option out of LAX

If I fly out of SAN on United on Dec. 21, UA6338 will fly me to LAX, where I will connect to UA6376, that same 7:15 PM nonstop to OKC, but with a San Diego origin, the total cost is only $261

Is there some sort of simple explanation or science for this?

BTW, I'm actually going to go with Southwest from SAN because it was the cheapest with two checked bags at only $210.

[Just the facts]

I am sure someone can try to explain it but I experience the same thing. I used to fly from Jax to San Fran every Sunday afternoon. The ticket was usually around $320. Then I started working in Atlanta and wanted to take the same flight from Jax to ATL and it was around $380. Same flight to ATL and no flight to San Fran and it was $60 more. I don't know why airlines don't calculate how much it cost to fly from A to B, divide by the number of tickets they expect to sell, add in some profit, and charge me that. The fact that airlines are in bankruptcy every 10 years tells me they have a problem with their pricing model.

[Pete]

Check into Frontier through Denver to LAX.

They've had great fares lately.

[bluedogok]

We can fly from Denver to Boston cheaper than from Denver to Midland, it all comes down to what they think they can charge. Southwest does a DEN-OKC or TUL-DAL-MAF that is in the mid 300's, United has a DEN-MAF direct for about $1,000.

[pure]

Pete- I am actually using Frontier to get to San Diego from OKC on Dec. 14, it was only $129, the return trip was something crazy like $378, must be too close to the Holiday season for them to offer the $129 rate coming back.

[ljbab728]

I have been dealing with airline prices on a daily basis for about 25 years. They have complex formulas they use to figure the prices and I won't pretend to know exactly how they work. The prices basically have little to do with what city you or flying to or how far they are. Competition within specific markets comes into play. You also have to understand that on any one flight they might offer 25 or more different fares based on how far in advance you book or what days you fly. They allot a specific number of seats on that flight that they will offer at a particular price and as the flight fills up the price may go up.
With that said, they change prices almost on a whim at times. If they decide to change it at 10:30AM on a Thursday they can.
And none of that takes into consideration the extra fees they may charge for premium seating.

A few airlines have tried a simplified pricing system in the past but it never lasted very long.

[kevinpate]

We can fly from Denver to Boston cheaper than from Denver to Midland, it all comes down to what they think they can charge. Southwest does a DEN-OKC or TUL-DAL-MAF that is in the mid 300's, United has a DEN-MAF direct for about $1,000.

If you watch on the DEN-OKC and have flexibility, for 300, give or take 15, you can not only RT between OKC and DEN, you can also cover a RT shuttle trip from DEN to Cheyenne.

[Just the facts]

A few airlines have tried a simplified pricing system in the past but it never lasted very long.

I have had pretty good pricing luck with AirTran. I have bought tickets 3 weeks advance and 3 days in advance and have been almost the same price. To bad they are going away.

[MustangGT]

If you can buy far enough in the future you can get a wider variety of fares. The closer to departure the fares start to rise.

[venture]

Finding a one way flight to OKC from southern California for December 21 and this REALLY confuses me...

If I fly out of LAX on United on Dec. 21, UA6376 is the 7:15 PM nonstop to OKC and it costs $395 and this is the cheapest option out of LAX

If I fly out of SAN on United on Dec. 21, UA6338 will fly me to LAX, where I will connect to UA6376, that same 7:15 PM nonstop to OKC, but with a San Diego origin, the total cost is only $261

Is there some sort of simple explanation or science for this?

BTW, I'm actually going to go with Southwest from SAN because it was the cheapest with two checked bags at only $210.

Welcome to the joys of revenue management.

A few already hit on the basics. It comes down to market pricing and not segment pricing. While we know OKC-LAX is going to cost X amount and LAX-SAN is going to be X amount...we can't simply just take the fares from each segment and add them together. In many cases that would result in a higher overall air fare. Typically your nonstop O&D markets are going to be higher yielding markets...OKC-LAX. They want a fare premium from the business folks. OKC-SAN isn't nearly as big of an O&D business market so the fares get a bit more competitive.

The best thing to do is just shop around and make sure you are looking at all the fees involved as well. Also keep up on any fare specials or habits when airlines routinely put their inventory on sale. FlyerTalk.com is a huge resource for tracking things like this, so I would advise taking a look at them if you have spare time.

I can't get into the nitty gritty specifics of revenue management, but you have a rough idea how everything is planned out.

[venture]

I am sure someone can try to explain it but I experience the same thing. I used to fly from Jax to San Fran every Sunday afternoon. The ticket was usually around $320. Then I started working in Atlanta and wanted to take the same flight from Jax to ATL and it was around $380. Same flight to ATL and no flight to San Fran and it was $60 more. I don't know why airlines don't calculate how much it cost to fly from A to B, divide by the number of tickets they expect to sell, add in some profit, and charge me that. The fact that airlines are in bankruptcy every 10 years tells me they have a problem with their pricing model.

Nothing is really wrong with the pricing model. For most airlines, the recent trip through Chapter 11 was their first time through in the 60-80 years they were around. Prior to 9/11 and the following spike in oil prices with downward pressure in pax numbers, only a couple of the airlines (that were around then) had been through bankruptcy before - namely US Airways. Labor and fuel costs were completely out of whack when compared to the market so most of the majors had to go through Chapter 11 to get things fixed. Southwest, Alaska, JetBlue, AirTran, and Continental were the majors at the time that avoided such a trip. AirTran of course is now part of Southwest, and Continental merged with United where CO's team took over.

Things are finally settling down as the industry matures which record load factors and profits back at most companies. Of course fares are also higher as capacity is reduced or has flat growth to allow them to increase yields.

[ctchandler]

Venture79,
At Hertz it was called "Yield Management". Our system was modeled after the airlines. They had been doing this type of pricing years before the rent-a-car companies started.
C. T.

Welcome to the joys of revenue management.

[ctchandler]

I'm not sure about the airlines but for those of you that rent cars and/or stay in hotels, after booking your car/room call them as often as you can or check online for lower prices. At Hertz and I believe all car rental companies as well as hotels, if the price goes down (and it does often especially when they know they are going to have cars in the parking lot or empty rooms on your arrival date) they will give you the lower rate and re-status your booking.
C. T.

[venture]

I'm not sure about the airlines but for those of you that rent cars and/or stay in hotels, after booking your car/room call them as often as you can or check online for lower prices. At Hertz and I believe all car rental companies as well as hotels, if the price goes down (and it does often especially when they know they are going to have cars in the parking lot or empty rooms on your arrival date) they will give you the lower rate and re-status your booking.
C. T.

The only airline I've heard of that does this would be Southwest. However you don't get your money back, but it is set aside as a credit for a future trip.

[bluedogok]

If you watch on the DEN-OKC and have flexibility, for 300, give or take 15, you can not only RT between OKC and DEN, you can also cover a RT shuttle trip from DEN to Cheyenne.

Most of our flights between DEN-OKC and DEN-AUS have been under $200 on Frontier, sometime well under.

[ljbab728]

The only airline I've heard of that does this would be Southwest. However you don't get your money back, but it is set aside as a credit for a future trip.

You can do that with other airlines. The catch is that the lower fare has to be low enough to more than offset the normal change penalty that they charge.

[mugofbeer]

If you watch on the DEN-OKC and have flexibility, for 300, give or take 15, you can not only RT between OKC and DEN, you can also cover a RT shuttle trip from DEN to Cheyenne.

I've been able to get DEN - OKC for well down in the $200's pretty regulary as long as it isn't a holiday. SW usually beats Frontier on that route.

[BG918]

I did DEN-OKC roundtrip for $130 on Frontier a few weeks ago. Cheapest fare I've seen on that route in awhile. TUL-DEN is usually about $60-80 higher because they don't have Frontier (only WN and UA).

[mugofbeer]

I did DEN-OKC roundtrip for $130 on Frontier a few weeks ago. Cheapest fare I've seen on that route in awhile. TUL-DEN is usually about $60-80 higher because they don't have Frontier (only WN and UA).

Yep, especially if you can fly T, W or TH

[bluedogok]

I haven't been back to OKC since June of last year, so I haven't seen what the latest pricing has been. We are planning on heading back for the OU-Tech game so I need to get some, I am about one flight away from a a free round trip on Frontier. We are looking at going to Austin over Thanksgiving and go to the Tech-UT game since neither of us went to a game at DKR while we lived there. If it wasn't that weekend it would be F1 right before, neither weekend would be cheap. I do have a SWA credit from a cancelled MAF-DEN flight when I stayed down there after the funeral. We will probably do SWA to Austin, I think we both have some credit with SWA

[venture]

I did DEN-OKC roundtrip for $130 on Frontier a few weeks ago. Cheapest fare I've seen on that route in awhile. TUL-DEN is usually about $60-80 higher because they don't have Frontier (only WN and UA).

Don't get use to it. F9 is not in a strong position right now. Though they will go down the ULCC road and be more like Spirit (NK) soon...if they remain in OKC is probably less than 50% right now.

[bluedogok]

If Frontier goes ULCC then I will probably quit flying with them and stick with SWA and I have rarely flown SWA.

[venture]

If Frontier goes ULCC then I will probably quit flying with them and stick with SWA and I have rarely flown SWA.

That's the goal. Republic should have them sold off by the end of the year and the primary target appears to be Indigo Partners - who just cashed out their investment in Spirit.