Advice needed - Delta

[Spook]

Help please - have the possibility of getting a really good deal with a company called Ocean Florida but am concerned the flight would be with Delta. Reading about Delta's financial problems and possible pilots strike would we be mad to book this. Anybody else flying Delta - or used Ocean Florida?

TIA
Jan

 

[carolfoy]

Almost all American airlines are in chapter 11 (the same financial set up as Delta) and there haven't been any real issues, as for pilot strikes, they can happen with any airline at any time. I wouldn't worry too much about it, if they're the only airline you've been given the choice of, I must admit I'd hunt around a bit but if Delta were the cheapest by a long shot I wouldn't hesitate.

 

[Cochise]

I was booked with Delta until recently, I only changed as they do not have PTV's for passengers on either the 763's they use for Manchester-Atlanta and the new route Manchester to JFK on the 764's. So i changed to bmi.

Yes they are within the chapter 11 protection as are a few others now and even more have been previously. There are threats of strikes by the pilots due to the fact they are trying to re-negotiate the pilots wages and pensions. The airline is looking for sympathy on this issue from the Judge who overseas this process as they want her to rule the pilots contracts void so the emloyer can re-negotiate, so the employers are maybe over stating the precarious nature of their finances. (Hence why striking is discussed)

If you think of it this way:

We re-booked with the bmi/ted codeshare but bmi is literally bleeding cash at the moment which analysts believe they cannot sustain for a long period. Opinions are being thrown around that Lufthansa maybuy them out (They own 20% already i think) So alot of Airlines are struggling...

I say go for it but consider that you will only get central screens and not seatback entertainment which was important to me.

You pay a fee with your booking that will protect you if the airline collapses and should secure a flight with another company. Book with a protected UK agent for more protection if your worried.

 

[sharon lewis]

Hi there - We are going with Ocean Florida as they did the best deal for us as we are having 2 weeks in a villa in Orlando and a week in a hotel in Clearwater. We saved a fortune compared with others and are flying with US Airways from Manchester. US Airways have seat back entertainment. We do have to change at Philly but it is a small price to pay to save £££££££'s. Plus when we get to MCO we can go straight thru as we go thru immigration at Phily.

 

[Cochise]

The US Air flight is really good, we did that last October

 

[Spook]

Thanks for the replies - much appreciated

 

[Spook]

I meant to add that up until yesterday BA flights to Orlando were £345 (plus tax etc. each way) they are now £402 each way for the exact same date. I am new to finding my own flights, do prices fluctuate like this all summer?

 

[Cochise]

There are agents about to advise of how this works exactly but this is what i know.

A flight has a number of different classes, i think there are around 8 or 10. Each class has a number of seats allocated to each one. Agents will have a contract to sell seats for that airline on certain terms and in certain classes. As seats sell in that class the price will rise and obviously fall if they are not shifting. Then if a seating class sells out there are only ones at the next cost point so seats prices will rise more.

It is simple supply and demand i think.

*EDIT*
This site explains it quite well

http://www.travelterminal.com/whatsinafare.shtml

 

[Spook]

Thanks for the reply Cochise

 

[carolfoy]

Rob has it nailed, its not unusual for prices to fluctuate dramatically

 

[juliebro]

Hi there - We are going with Ocean Florida as they did the best deal for us as we are having 2 weeks in a villa in Orlando and a week in a hotel in Clearwater. We saved a fortune compared with others and are flying with US Airways from Manchester. US Airways have seat back entertainment. We do have to change at Philly but it is a small price to pay to save £££££££'s. Plus when we get to MCO we can go straight thru as we go thru immigration at Phily.

We're also going with Ocean Florida and are flying US Airways from Manchester via Philly. We've used US Airways 4 times before but this is our first time using Ocean Florida. Their prices were amazingly cheap compared to anyone else.

Julie

 

[gbrchill]

There's very little pattern that can be applied to pricing of seats. The airlines use sophisticated revenue and yield management tools that monitor the sales and adjust the prices to try to get the most money.

If the seats start selling well the price will go up. It may come down again if the seats stop selling. As a general rule the closer one gets to the flight time the more expensive it becomes. However this is not always the case.

Then there is the complexity of different fare buckets, restrictions and rules.
All of which have been constructed by the airlines in order to maximise income.

Also, the airlines tend to aggressively price flights with connections, where their competitors have direct flights - to try an pull traffic from the competitor. It can often be far cheaper to fly A-B-C than just B-C,
if a competitor has A-C flights.

Chris.

 

[Spook]

Thanks for the replies - how about this, today with BA Gatwick to Orlando using my preferred holiday dates the flight works out at £802.10, but if I reverse it and fly Orlando to London on those dates its £552.06. Now if I could get that the other way round I would be truly happy.