Delta November 2015 nonstops MSP-FLL

[BeeDeeJoe]

I am looking to book airfare for 8 MSP to FLL Nov 6 return Nov 14. I have been tracking the nonstop airfare since it became available right before Christmas. The price finally dropped from $780 to $550 for the nonstops a couple of weeks ago. Today I check and the Saturday Nov 14 nonstop FLL to MSP is no longer listed.....same for the Saturday before and the Saturday after. Would this just be a computer glitch or did Delta really pull the Saturday nonstops?

[CruiserBruce]

I am not seeing any non-stops. Looking like they got pulled.

[FlyerTalker]

There is one roundtrip non-stop each day between MSP and FLL. However, it only operates six days a week, with Saturday being the day with no service.

 

You can fly on Friday non-stop, but Saturday travel will be via connection.

[waterbug123]

I am looking to book airfare for 8 MSP to FLL Nov 6 return Nov 14. I have been tracking the nonstop airfare since it became available right before Christmas. The price finally dropped from $780 to $550 for the nonstops a couple of weeks ago. Today I check and the Saturday Nov 14 nonstop FLL to MSP is no longer listed.....same for the Saturday before and the Saturday after. Would this just be a computer glitch or did Delta really pull the Saturday nonstops?

 

I have several questions for you.

1. When you were searching, were you searching for 1 ticket or 8 tickets? I'm going to guess you were just searching for 1 ticket, to get an idea of the price. That said, please understand that when you search for 1 ticket, the airline website shows you the lowest fare bucket available. If you change your search to look for 8 tickets, you are apt to see the price jump, possibly by a lot. That's because if there are, for example, only 3 seats left at the lowest fare bucket, the website will show you the first fare bucket (at a higher price) for which there are 8 available seats. They will not price it for the 3 lowest, then 2 more at the next lowest, and so on.

 

2. Are you planning to purchase all 8 tickets? Keeping the above in mind, you may find it better to purchase the fewest number possible to get the lowest available price. Then purchase more in a separate transaction. If others are going to pay for their own tickets, then I highly recommend letting them book their own tickets as well. Otherwise you get into the whole predicament of figuring out who is reimbursing you for the cheap tickets and who gets stuck paying for the pricier ones, or you have to average it all out, etc. etc.

 

3. How low are you waiting for the price to get to? If I saw 8 tickets (again, depends on whether you were searching for 1 ticket or 8 tickets as to whether you really could have purchased 8 for $550 each or not) at $550 for a nonstop, I'd have been tempted to go ahead and buy them right then and there.

[BeeDeeJoe]

thanks for the reply. I booked our Nov 7-14 2015 cruise in early Sept 2014. at that time I looked at delta for fares for Nov 2014 and found them to be at $400 for coach and $675 for first class. Nov 2015 became available right before Christmas. At first there was not a nonstop offered, which seemed strange since they have it offered the other months leading up to November. in early January they had a nonstop and it was at $780. two weeks ago it dropped to $550 and this weekend the Saturday non stops disappeared for the month of November 2015.

 

I got the same pricing putting in 1 or 8 tickets. We are taking our adult children and spouses for a retirement celebration (mine!):D.

 

I am ok with the $550 for coach for nonstop....if I had booked that and they take away the Saturday nonstop in November, what would happen to my booking? I would not want to be put on a one stop flight that has a 50 minute connection time (I see those offered).

 

Saturday is a big cruise day in FLL isn't it? Seems strange Delta would pull the nonstop MSP/FLL on Saturday only. We are going down the day before. got lucky and booked into the Embassy Suites FLL when Nov 2015 was available to reserve.....ES FLL sold out before Christmas 2014 for November 6 2015.

 

will keep watching, hoping it was a computer glitch at delta and the Saturday nonstop for November will be back soon. now the Saturday nonstop is missing after August.

[FlyerTalker]

will keep watching, hoping it was a computer glitch at delta and the Saturday nonstop for November will be back soon. now the Saturday nonstop is missing after August.

No...it is not a computer glitch. DL has altered their schedules, so that MSP-FLL and back are on a six-times per week frequency for late 2015. Not just for your date, but for the whole schedule. Perhaps it will be revised, but that would be part of an overall schedule change, not just for your date.

 

As to your comment about "strange": Just because an airline has offered service on a city-pair in the past is no guarantee that they will in the future. Airlines are continually monitoring demand on city-pair combinations and make revenue-based schedule changes in response. In addition, aircraft need to be taken out of service for maintenance and many times that is best handled on a weekend (specifically Saturday) when there is less high-revenue traffic. As you mentioned, FLL is a heavy leisure market and DL has tailored much of their FLL service to be on frequent flights to ATL where they would connect to the rest of their system.

[BeeDeeJoe]

thanks for the info. I knew the experts on CC would have an answer! I see Spirit has a nonstop on Saturdays from FLL to MSP, but it does not leave until 9:30pm. Probably will have to stay with Delta and do the plane change in Atlanta.

[waterbug123]

 

I am ok with the $550 for coach for nonstop....if I had booked that and they take away the Saturday nonstop in November, what would happen to my booking? I would not want to be put on a one stop flight that has a 50 minute connection time (I see those offered).

 

What would happen? They would rebook you. And if you didn't like the itinerary they rebooked for you (ex. a 50 min connection), you would be able to call them and suggest an alternate itinerary (with a connection you are more comfortable with) and they would almost certainly make the change for you, at no charge. Airlines tend to be very accommodating when the change is because THEY (not you) initiated the original it by changing their schedule or whatever.

 

thanks for the info. I knew the experts on CC would have an answer! I see Spirit has a nonstop on Saturdays from FLL to MSP, but it does not leave until 9:30pm. Probably will have to stay with Delta and do the plane change in Atlanta.

 

And I would suggest that even if it was earlier, you not take it. Reason? If there is a problem and the flight gets delayed or canceled for whatever reason, Spirit does not interline with any other airlines, which means your only option would be to wait for the next Spirit flight. On many routes, Spirit may only fly once a day, or even once every few days, so you could easily be stuck. Even if they had another flight that day or early the next, you'd need to hope that flight had 8 available seats. At the last minute? Good luck.