# Airline pricing is nuts



## MARC Rider (Apr 14, 2022)

OK, so at the last minute my consulting client decided I should go down to South Carolina for a conference next week. I started looking up airfares (on Southwest) last night, but I didn't get final approval until this afternoon. When I booked the tickets just now, it turns out that the fare I ended up paying is about $200 cheaper than the fare I was quoted last night. Not that I'm complaining, but this is a little nuts. Also, when I tried to book a rental car, all of the agencies at the airport were sold out. I finally found something at an off-airport location, but they won't pick me up or drop me off because I guess that would be competing with their branch at the airport. Thus, I'm on the hook for 2 taxicab or Uber rides between the airport and the rental car location, but it's only 2 miles away, so it shouldn't be too much.

By the way, I did check out Amtrak, but aside from the fact that the absence of the Silver Meteor makes an overnight trip impossible, the coach fare on the Palmetto was about $50 more than the airline fare. Almost $300, coach, Baltimore to Charleston, wow! (I know that if I booked earlier, the far would have been a lot less.) I'll bet that Palmetto is packed in like sardines.


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## Bob Dylan (Apr 14, 2022)

MARC Rider said:


> OK, so at the last minute my consulting client decided I should go down to South Carolina for a conference next week. I started looking up airfares (on Southwest) last night, but I didn't get final approval until this afternoon. When I booked the tickets just now, it turns out that the fare I ended up paying is about $200 cheaper than the fare I was quoted last night. Not that I'm complaining, but this is a little nuts. Also, when I tried to book a rental car, all of the agencies at the airport were sold out. I finally found something at an off-airport location, but they won't pick me up or drop me off because I guess that would be competing with their branch at the airport. Thus, I'm on the hook for 2 taxicab or Uber rides between the airport and the rental car location, but it's only 2 miles away, so it shouldn't be too much.
> 
> By the way, I did check out Amtrak, but aside from the fact that the absence of the Silver Meteor makes an overnight trip impossible, the coach fare on the Palmetto was about $50 more than the airline fare. Almost $300, coach, Baltimore to Charleston, wow! (I know that if I booked earlier, the far would have been a lot less.) I'll bet that Palmetto is packed in like sardines.


 WOW, who woulda thought so many people would want to go to South Carolina on the Train??!!!


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## AmtrakBlue (Apr 14, 2022)

Bob Dylan said:


> WOW, who woulda thought so many people would want to go to South Carolina on the Train??!!!


Don’t forget the Meteor is not running so the Palmetto is getting those pax too


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## dadonatrain (Apr 15, 2022)

MARC rider, you are spot on about airline pricing! I will never forget a personal example: I had booked a RT San Jose-Chicago-San Jose and then needed to add a RT btwn Chicago and Stevens Point, WI, in btwn the legs from San Jose to Chi and back to San Jose. This was back when you could still go to a brick and mortar ticket office and talk to an agent. So she keyed in the changes I wanted and just gasped! She said (and I’ve never forgotten it) “I will never never never never never understand airline prices. I just put in the extra flights you wanted and the price went down!”


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## City of Miami (Apr 15, 2022)

Amtrak is about the same. The trip I make most is Charlottesville to NYC and back. Before shutdown the typical fare each way was $65. During shutdown reduced to $45. This past winter all Fridays 11 months into the future was $110. Then it dropped to $76. Today I cancelled and rebooked a July Friday for $30.


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