Is Delta Air Lines gouging its Atlanta customers?

High demand this summer. What other airlines fly to Milan, Rome & Venice nonstop from ATL that you are comparing?

start with google flights with a screening search and then go to the airline sites which almost always ends up showing a higher fare than on google flights

That demonstrates how quickly fares can change. ( or does google lure folks with bait and switch tactics?)

I am finding Delta is AT LEAST $1,000 - $1,500 (!) MORE than nearly all other airlines with Delta RT fares coming in the $ 2,500 - $ 3,000+ range even for economy flights

The solution to that situation seems obvious... use the other airline

All of the airlines gouge the local markets of their fortress hub cities. That’s why they attack and demolish competition that dares try to enter their markets.

I bought round-trip tickets from San Francisco to Rome and returning from MIlan this coming June July. I paid 1750 per person and I wasn’t sure if that was a good deal and now I think it is. We have to fly on Air Canada through Montreal. Our connection time is a little lengthy but it’s OK.

We usually fly out of Nashville (BNA) because 3 budget airlines servicing the city keep airfares down. I've even seen airfares to Europe cheaper out of Nashville connecting in ATL versus starting the flight in ATL.

We live in Huntsville, and our airfares are very high because most flights out of here are paid by the Federal Government. Airlines don't cut the Feds any slack. We are seeing some lower airfares out of here because of a couple of budget airlines coming into the market.

Delta used to take care of their local travelers 20 years ago offering great weekend excursion airfares, for example But Delta of today is a different Delta of old. Delta is gouging their huge hometown travelers, and they're not even competitive with other airlines much of the time.

Yes we are considering other airlines now as this cost diff adds up quickly for 4 passengers. Being an Atlanta native and been traveling Delta atleast the last 30+yrs regularly and holding medallion status with them for years my preference is to almost always take Delta...but they seems to chasing their loyal customers away by literally gouging them.

Agree that Delta’s prices to Italy are higher out of Atlanta than out of other markets where they have more competition. If your dates are flexible have you tried using Delta’s fare calendar for June to see if you can find a pair of dates where the fare is lower? That worked for me for my September trip — there was exactly one pair of dates where the fare was substantially cheaper so I grabbed it. Good luck!

I just booked a round trip 2 days ago from Orlando to Rome and return from Venice in October for $2800 for 2 on American. Was watching United, American and Delta for a few weeks. Delta was actually the least expensive a few weeks ago but they have steadily been going up. Other than fares typically going up on weekends it’s difficult to predict if, when and how much they can drop. Obviously demand plays a role and waiting as your dates approach could pay off. I check the number of seats available to factor in the demand price movement. Good luck!

Unfortunately our travel dates are rather fixed with +/- 1 or 2 days of flexibility at the most...but Delta fares are high throughout. fares for the exact same itinerary on KLM (a Delta partner) is $ 300 cheaper buying on KLM (still Delta flights)...if this is not fleecing your customers don't know what is. KLM, Lufthansa and Air Canada work out $ 400 cheaper per ticket but with an additional stop, non convenient itineraries and none of the benefits of flying Delta with my medallion status (points, upgrades, baggage allowances, other sky priority privilege's et al).

I am concerned by waiting longer if the prices will continue to go up (mid june departure from Atlanta)...may look to buy in late Feb/Early march or so.

AA through Charlotte to Rome is much higher this year than last year. Business Class RT usually runs around $3K each when we fly that route in the May / June timeframe, now whenever we check for this year it's $12-13K EACH, and flying that route now costs more on AA for Main Cabin that what we've typically paid for Business Class.

We have traveled overseas an average of 2-3 times a year since 2010 (except for 2020 COVID year) and my airline preference is always Delta.
Still, I of all those trips we took, every once in a while, I would find another airline like US Airways before it merged with American.
I remember saving about $700 for our tickets to Italy once and on another trip to Spain $400.

Also, we live in South Georgia about 75 miles from JAX, Florida and prefer flying out of that airport, not our local airport in Brunswick, GA. 90% of the time JAX is cheaper than Brunswick (Delta has a monopoly on flights to Atlanta or anywhere). Still, every once in a while I can fly out of Brunswick for the same fare as JAX.

Also, I have found on two occasions that I saved several hundred dollars (once over a thousand) by flying out of Orlando. Still, when we do that, we have to book a hotel for the night before, because of how much time it takes to drive to Orlando.

Last August, we had a safari in Kenya and Tanzania and when I priced an open jaw ticket via Amsterdam using Delta/KLM to Nairobi returning from Kilimanjaro, Tanzania airport it was going to cost $2500 pp, which was just ridiculous. What I decided to do was use my Delta flyer miles for a RT ticket to Amsterdam, then purchase a separate ticket from Qatar Airways from Amsterdam to and return from Africa. Qatar Airways had great bargain fares, even though I had to book a hotel for a night (12 hr layover) in the Qatar Airport at the cost of over $200.

I always check Kayak.com for competitive air fares (never book through them) prior to booking. Sometimes Delta is cheaper than American or United, sometimes it is not.

Perhaps good time Fed govt start investigating some of these airlines for price fixing and collusion. It is quite interesting to see how much cheaper flying domestically in most other parts of the world compared to the US; and same for internet and mobile phone rates.

KLM, Lufthansa and Air Canada work out $ 400 cheaper per ticket but with an additional stop, non convenient itineraries and none of the benefits of flying Delta with my medallion status (points, upgrades, baggage allowances, other sky priority privilege's et al).

So, one who is a Medallion member (like many Atlanta flyers) gets more benefits, and anyone at all gets a more convenient/shorter itinerary for the extra cost of purchasing Delta tickets? I think we might have found the answer as to why the tickets cost more.

Eric: A few thoughts to your comment.
1. In my calculation these additional benefits flying Delta does not justify an increase of 30% - 50%+ in airfare price.

2. As you know medallion status does not come free...many of us spend thousands if not tens of thousands a year on Delta to secure that status. Further, of late, these benefits are being cut more and more by Delta (Delta lounge access, medallion miles needed to redeem et al)
3. If you notice posts from others, appears Delta and the airlines really do take advantage of their hometown customers like myself.
4. Lastly it appears the airfares seems exorbitantly higher than normal compared to previous years..increasing at a far higher rate than wages, fuel and other operating costs. Seems these airlines want to makeup for all the lost profits during the 2 yr of pandemic.
My fear is that these prices may never come down even if the inflationary pressure and demand eases...atleast not by much. We saw a similar phenomenon after 911.

Airlines have been charging more from their fortress hubs for years. This isn't new.

In the case you've cited, you can pay more for what is an objectively better experience, or not. It's up to you. You do have other options which cost less.

Yes, ticket prices seem higher. As you noted, this seems to be across many airlines, so not solely a Delta/ATL thing.

I do understand the frustration of being a fortress captive. However, thinking this situation needs Federal intervention, well, I don't see that happening.

Flying is still far more accessible to a larger part of the population than it was in the past. You are seeing the impact of supply/demand. Airlines can only charge those prices if people are willing to pay them. Obviously, people are.

Eric, Carol - I can make a valid counter point to your comments...but will be unable to without entering into the subject of politics in this country. So in the interest of comity, i will withhold further response on this matter. But beleive i have established (and gotten verified by other commenters) that Delta has infact jacked up their prices quite a bit and take even further advantage of hometown customers than before. Cheers!

of course booking far ahead and shoulder season helps. we are flying Delta from valdosta ga. to naples- via atl in april. 1000 per ticket.
VLD is 240 south of Atl (lived in ATL for 25 years). other suggestions re: other airlines is good.

we have also found that we get cheaper fares - when not flying from VLD, but avoiding ATL, by flying from out of jax or orl.
Consider jax, nashville, birmingham etc. i am convinced Orlando might be the cheapest market because of the number of international visitors.

Thanks Rich. You message further reiterates how Delta is taking undue and unfair advantage of their home (ATL, GA) customers, whom are captives to them, literally. Seems this is an open secret and little/nothing is being done about it. This used to be not this bad even some years ago.

One thing Atlanta does have with Delta is a lot of direct flights. My daughter and her husband live there and my comparison is Miami airport. That said.’, they are going to Sicily with us and flying Turkish air because $400-500 a ticket cheaper than Delta. It does mean a long day returning but decided it was worth saving the money.

it's not price fixing, they are charging as much as the market will bear. if the tickets weren't selling, the prices would drop.

perhaps you haven't priced flights in the last year or so.

Yes and those in Birmingham. It's much cheaper to fly Delta out of JFK.

Please stop with these ignorant, uninformed and snarky comments. I can deconstruct these arguments but I have better things to do. Just so you know I used to hold the highest medallion status with delta as of December 2022. SMH.