Go figure. This happens when my cousin flies from NYC and "picks" me up in ATL to fly to STT. My ticket costs anywhere from 40 to 70 percent more although I sit next to him on the plane. It's just the way airlines run their promotions and keeps us confused....something like what politicians do.

I usually fly roundtrip from Chicago to STT for around $250 to $300. I'm always surprised to hear how expensive it is for people traveling a shorter distance. Did you try Travelocity and check the flexible dates option, it's usually a lot cheaper to fly midweek?

Molly

I don't know if this will work could you book your flight from his town but just use the leg from atl

My in-laws from Chicago are meeting us in MIA on the way to STT. We fly from Orlando to MIA and then catch the same MIA-STT flight. Their fare was $8 more than ours....so essentially they are paying $16 for the 2 of them to fly to MIA from OHare! Go figure.

waterguy wrote:
I don't know if this will work could you book your flight from his town but just use the leg from atl

DON'T do this!!! If you're not on that flight leaving Austin they'll cancel the rest of your ticket!!

be careful when you cancel an outward leg. the entire ticket is cancelled!
billd

The rates and schedules were changing in front of our eyes as we were booking our September trip today. There was a schedule problem on the return trip (an impossible connection) so we ended up calling. We were told that so many seats were available at a certain dollar amount, when those seats are sold the price goes up and apparently the schedule can change also. It's very confusing.

nah,

you may be in luck, dal seems to be having a sale on atl to stt flts beginning in mid-may. most pairings w/o sat flt under $380 rt and as cheap as 357 on thur to tues. even noted one pair on 2 flt day where one flt was almost twice the other.

good luck and enjoy that n ga cool air.

papabou

I checked yesterday ( I am also in the Atlanta area and am going through STJ withdrawal) and the fares on Delta (nonstop and rt) were 367.00 including taxes and fees. I completely understand your question though as to why your friend's flight is not comparable in relation to trip distance and timing. The only thing I can come up with is...never mind, there is no rhyme or reason when it comes to airline pricing.

Airfare....Tax Law...Are they written by the same people? :S

I heard long ago that tickets out of the regional "hubs" for major airlines would always be more expensive because the airlines need to keep seats open for the connecting flights coming in/out of those hubs.

Theory is that if the hub sites sold tickets too inexpensively then local/regional people would buy-up those direct flight tickets and there would be no seats left on the connecting flight for the nice people who are flying in from other parts of the country. There's only so many seats and planes to go around and they absolutely don't want to limit the ticket sales from the more distant locations (which would happen if there's no ability to connect to a final destination). They'd end up flying half-full planes into the hub locations and full planes to the final destinations instead of full planes in and out of the hub locations (and getting a premium price for the seats that are direct flights originating from the hub).

True or not, it does make some sense to me.

Now - about how they are actually priced - that's anybody's guess!

VI

Sadly, that sort of makes sense.