Delta airlines reduces its highest fares

santobonao

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Jun 3, 2003
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Hey Folks maybe Delta airlines will drop their fares to Dominican Republic. ;)

Mum's the word on Delta airfares
By Marilyn Adams, USA TODAY
Delta Air Lines declined to comment Monday on published reports that the No. 3 airline is poised to cut some domestic fares and ease ticketing rules as part of a nationwide pricing change. (Related video: National airlines struggle)

Still waiting: Delta is also overhauling its entire schedule, hoping to limit future flight disruptions and delays.
By Tim Boyle, Getty Images

Delta on Monday was hastily reserving large amounts of advertising space for Wednesday in large newspapers, including USA TODAY, for an announcement, according to sources outside the airline.

Time magazine reported on its Web site that Atlanta-based Delta is preparing to announce a simplified fare structure designed to win back travelers who have defected to low-fare competitors such as AirTran Airways and JetBlue.

Delta, citing federal law prohibiting airlines from discussing prospective fare changes, wouldn't comment on the Time story or the ad buys.

If Delta reduces its highest fares on domestic routes, says consumer travel expert Terry Trippler, it will have to reduce the number of deeply discounted seats on those flights or risk losing too much revenue. Delta has been posting heavy losses and cannot afford a cash drain, he says.

In a speech last month in New York, Delta CEO Jerry Grinstein lauded an experimental fare structure called SimpliFares launched last fall at Delta's Cincinnati hub.

It offers one-way coach fares capped at $499, no Saturday-night-stay requirement and lower re-booking fees. Last-minute ticket prices dropped as much as 60% on some routes, Delta said at the time.

Grinstein said Delta's Cincinnati-based bookings rose 30% after the experiment began. "SimpliFares is affordable and easy to understand," Grinstein said at New York's Wings Club.

The Cincinnati experiment mirrors the fare structures of discount competitors, including Orlando-based AirTran and New York-based JetBlue. Discount leader Southwest Airlines pioneered the simple fare structure decades ago, offering just a few categories of one-way fares and no Saturday-night-stay requirement.

Delta and other traditional airlines, including American, United and US Airways, are struggling to survive amid heavy losses, high fuel costs and brutal competition from discount carriers. United and US Airways are in bankruptcy reorganization. Last fall, Delta narrowly averted a bankruptcy filing by winning $1 billion a year in contract concessions from its pilots union and concessions from some creditors.

Delta also is shutting down its Dallas hub. On Jan. 31, Delta will restructure the huge Atlanta hub, smoothing the peaks and valleys in its daily Atlanta flight schedule in hopes of cutting costs and reducing delays.

Delta isn't the only big airline experimenting with fares. Late last year American Airlines, the No. 1 carrier, restructured fares at its Miami hub to compete against discount carriers in an experiment American said it may expand later.
 

jruane44

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Jul 2, 2004
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I don't know how much cheaper flights can get to the DR. I just got off ORBITZ and JFK to SDQ was $267 round trip.
 

Willie

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Sep 30, 2004
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jruane44 said:
I don't know how much cheaper flights can get to the DR. I just got off ORBITZ and JFK to SDQ was $267 round trip.
Cheaper if you book it on delta.com
 

toneloc24

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Mar 8, 2004
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Doesn't affect international schedules or fares.

I did also hear that JFK-STI will be added in 2005, schedule TBA, along with a 2nd JFK-SDQ flight.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050103/ap_on_bi_ge/delta_fare_cuts_2

Reports: Delta Air Lines to Slash Its Fares
Mon Jan 3,11:07 AM ET Business - AP

ATLANTA - Delta Air Lines Inc. will slash fares by as much as 60 percent in a bid by the struggling carrier to lure back fliers, according to published reports.

Delta wouldn't confirm or refute a report in Time magazine that it plans to replicate nationwide its fare-cutting plan piloted in Cincinnati last August, when domestic flight fares were capped at $499 for economy seats and $599 for first-class seats.

The magazine and The Wall Street Journal, both citing unnamed sources, said the nation's third-biggest airline would roll out a new pricing structure and eliminate some unpopular requirements, such as Saturday-stay rules. The airline also plans to cut ticket-change fees from $100 to $50, Time said. International flights will reportedly be unaffected.

Asked about the reports, a spokeswoman for Atlanta-based Delta, Benet Wilson, said Monday, "We have not announced any changes in the fare structure and we do not make public statements about fare structures before they are made public."

Last month the airline announced a raft of changes to its frequent flier program, ranging from making it easier to get upgrades to simplifying fees, in hopes of winning back customers angered by previous changes to the program.

The Cincinnati fare-cut experiment dropped some fares by several hundred dollars. Last-minute walk-up fare from Cincinnati to Los Angeles went from $1,202 to $499, and from Cincinnati to Las Vegas from $1,032 to $479. Wilson wouldn't say whether the new fare pricing system would be similar.

Another change reported by Time is a new flight schedule, an attempt to reduce delays. Delta will add 81 new flight and seven new destinations from Atlanta, Time reported.

Delta shares rose 5 cents to $7.42 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange (news - web sites).
 

snowqueen

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Dec 15, 2004
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US airfare to DR

jruane44 said:
I don't know how much cheaper flights can get to the DR. I just got off ORBITZ and JFK to SDQ was $267 round trip.

Wow, what a great price. The last few years, from Toronto, we have been paying a mimimum of $750 for flight. Canadian funds of course. It looks like we might get lucky this year & may be able to pay about $700 each. We have joked that it may be cheaper to book an entire trip for an all inclusive and stay at the apartment we rent & being further ahead. May be no joke in the future
 

ricktoronto

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Jan 9, 2002
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snowqueen said:
Wow, what a great price. The last few years, from Toronto, we have been paying a mimimum of $750 for flight. Canadian funds of course. It looks like we might get lucky this year & may be able to pay about $700 each. We have joked that it may be cheaper to book an entire trip for an all inclusive and stay at the apartment we rent & being further ahead. May be no joke in the future

You know if you can tolerate the rather insufferable charters ( no legroom and farily lax schedules) air only is quite often available to the DR vacation cities for a lot less and you do get the advantage of a non stop flight. And I have seen AI deals so cheap vs. air via AA or other carriers that you could fly there and stay in a hotel and not use the AI hotel at all.