AA doesnt seem to have direct flights .....

You are are booking now for early September??? You are a little late primo. AA is down to one flight 833(6am) a day. I am flying in early Sept. out of LGA to MIA to STI and the reverse back. Jeesh!!! All-day itinerary for a 3 1/2 hour trip.

same here out of baltimore/washington. my, how things have changed.

laurapasinifan said:

all those people who used to fill the planes to the gills all went away???

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No, even with the planes full to the gills routes like these are losing money in a huge way. And they can't raise fares more than the passengers are willing to pay so they actually can make a profit, so the frequencies are cut. The airline can no longer afford your business.

AA is in the middle of a huge capacity cut, so expect smaller aircraft and less frequent flights to the Caribbean and other poorly performing routes.

laurapasinifan said:

well if a full plane cant make money...Id think they airline isnt run very good.

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Exactly

Why does AA send full planes to the DR and lose money and JetBlue, which charges more or less the same, sends full planes to the DR and is doing ok? (They have lost money this year but nothing like AA)

And if they bump up fares $100 or $200 so they might actually break even with a full A300, the customers will just go over to Jet Blue. Right now, Jet Blue is pretty much comparable to AA on its DR routes from JFK pricewise, though JetBlue has a far superior product.

So if AA raised it's fares they would price themselves right out of the market. The only thing worse than a decrepit A300 full with 260+ passengers, hemorrhaging money all the way to the Dominican Republic, is for them to raise ticket fares and price themselves out of the market so they have a half full plane bleeding even more money. You can see that they are stuck between a rock and a hard place and have no choice but to just drop the route or at the least reduce frequency. The gas guzzling A300's that have been flying since the Reagan Administration will be retired in the next year and a half. Expect to see smaller planes and less frequent flights.

With JetBlue they have far more modern, far more fuel efficent aircraft and they don't have unions to worry about. You get many services for free and other things you pay only for what you need, and a frequent flyer program that gives you award tickets you can actually use and with far fewer roundtrips than it would take on AA. No wonder they are expanding in the DR. They are picking up the slack for AA.

I booked my Sep trip in June and paid only $385 r/t on AA. And you are right Bob, it doesn't make any sense. They not only make money on the plane full of people but also on cargo. That is the number one reason why they use the A300 on this route. Times have indeed changed!!!

so i guess the 3-4 day trips are out if you use AA ? and these price increases are crazy.

and to think i can fly all year round from Baltimore to Costa Rica for about 400 bucks !!

i need to change my diet in women :ermm: