??? Delta decreased direct flights from BDL

[kda]

It appears that Delta has cut back on direct flights from BDL to MCO from 3 flights to 2 flights/day. We need tickets for November, so I've been checking multiple times a day for months. There's only 2 direct flights showing up. I did a quick check of a few random dates in September and October and only see 2 direct flights a day showing up. (and the RT price for the weekends we want is ~$500, up from $350 yesterday). So, if you already have tickets, check it out.

I know that sometimes the Delta site does some wierd things, but it's been like this all morning.

 

[boswellnakia]

I read somewhere that Delta is moving a lot of their flights from domestic markets to international markets where their margin of profit is much greater. The article said that Delta has moved over 81,000 daily flight seats to international flights. This tightening of the domestic market leads to fuller planes and higher prices I would guess.

 

[bicker]

Precisely. There just isn't enough money to be made ferrying vacationers to Orlando, so airlines are looking elsewhere for greener pastures. That'll leave us scurrying to find seats on fewer and fewer flights, which will of course mean that eventually the fares will come up a bit. Once they do, we may see some of the service that is being curtailed, restored.

 

[owtrbnks]

All the more reason to fly Southwest. They seem to be making money flying folks to Orlando!

 

[RobinMarie]

I like Delta, but SW usually gives me ideal flight times out of BDL.

 

[bicker]

Southwest has another few years of hedged fuel contracts, then they'll join the team and be losing money as well.

 

[CarolA]

Of course in last Thursday's USAToday there was an article on SW. First it pointed out that they had raised airfares across the board and then it pointed out that their expected increased fuel cost for this year is greater then last year's profits....

From USAToday

Southwest ups fares for 4th time this year
Updated 7/6/2006 10:36 AM ET E-mail | Save | Print | Subscribe to stories like this



DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines (LUV) has raised fares by $3 or $10 for one-way trips — one of its largest increases ever — and boosted the limit on its refundable fare to $319.
The weekend fare increase was the fourth broad fare increase by the nation's leading low-cost carrier this year and the ninth in the past two years.

The company said it raised one-way fares by $10 on flights longer than 1,000 miles and $3 on flights of 751 miles to 1,000 miles.

Shorter flights were not affected, spokeswoman Paula Berg said.

Berg said the increase, which took effect Friday night, before the July Fourth holiday weekend, was prompted by high fuel prices.

"We earned $548 million last year, and our fuel bill is expected to be $800 million higher this year," she said. "Something has got to be done about it."

Jamie Baker, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase, estimated the fare increases affected 65% of Southwest's revenue.

"Southwest's full-court press for higher fares is a phenomenon we expect to continue for many years" unless there is a "precipitous decline" in fuel prices, Baker said.

He said the higher fares would offer "significant" help to the airline industry.

Baker and Berg said the increase was matched by several other carriers, including American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines, Continental Airlines, AirTran Airways and Frontier Airlines.

By boosting some fares $10 each way, Southwest in part matched its highest fare increase ever, a $10 increase in March.

Despite the fare increases, Dallas-based Southwest is packing in customers.

On Wednesday, the company reported its planes averaged 80.4% full in June, up from 76.2% a year earlier.

Southwest reported that June traffic jumped 13.2% from June 2005, to 6.15 billion miles flown by paying customers.

Capacity, calculated by multiplying the number of available seats by miles flown, rose 7.3%. Southwest has been adding capacity while many other U.S. carriers are shrinking because of financial difficulty.

Southwest shares rose 13 cents to close at $16.60 on the New York Stock Exchange. Meanwhile, the Amex Airline index declined 0.6%.

 

[PolyHereWeCome]

Oh, hang in there Southwest with your great low-priced direct flights! We've never found Delta's fares and times competitive with Southwest's when flying Bradley-Orlando. In May we flew $59 pp each way on a direct SW flight -- got into Orlando at about noon, and on the way back home, we flew a late-day direct so we had nearly the whole day to enjoy. We did look at Delta both for our 2005 and 2006 WDW trips, but what lousy times and prices!

 

[Nathan's Grandma]

I just wish in Cncinnati we had some other choices. We ususally drive to Dayton, Oh to save on flights. Delta had Cincinnati so tied up it is almost imposible to fly anything but Delta to Orlando. Our flights are among the highest in the nation out of Cincinnati on Delta. We love Southwest but it is a two hour drive to fly them from either Columbus or Indy. If you are flying at a busy time it will take forever to get to the airports.

Kathy