Flights to and from MSP so expensive?? (trains, builder)

[Glenfield]

Originally Posted by sparksals

When my dad died, I had to get to Canada quick. Delta has a non-stop to Calgary - the only one to Calgary - from MSP. They quoted me a 'bereavement fare' of $1300 each, which was more expensive than the fare when I searched online. I called Air Canada and they gave me a bereavement fare via Toronto for $600.

I agree sometimes the cost vs. time-savings is worth it, but in the above case, the difference was astronomical. I have also found that it is hard to find those special low fares from Delta, that are much easier to find on other airlines.

Was the Air Canada flight also a non-stop? I'm not sure about the schedule at that time, but currently Delta appears to have the only non-stop from MSP to Calgary, while the only Air Canada flight is a code share operated by United and connecting through O'Hare. The point I was trying to make is that one often pays more for a non-stop flight than a connection.

[sparksals]

SW flies out of Baltimore so they could aslo get to MSP via chicago Midway.

[beenhereandthere]

Hasn't Southwest's presence in the Twin Cities, drive down fares?
This doesn't surprise me, if fares are still high, since, when Northwest was there, fares in and out of MSP where almost always higher then average. Don't let the DL name fool, you, most of the upper management with DL are ex NW people.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by beenhereandthere

Hasn't Southwest's presence in the Twin Cities, drive down fares?
This doesn't surprise me, if fares are still high, since, when Northwest was there, fares in and out of MSP where almost always higher then average. Don't let the DL name fool, you, most of the upper management with DL are ex NW people.

I know many people who worked at Delta here in Atlanta, I know many former NW people in the Twin Cities who are now DL employees, and I'm a former NW employee myself (10+ years in MSP Building C, F, and J).

Believe me, culturally, Delta is emphatically NOT Northwest. They may have some common management, but that's about as far as it goes...

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by beenhereandthere

Hasn't Southwest's presence in the Twin Cities, drive down fares?
This doesn't surprise me, if fares are still high, since, when Northwest was there, fares in and out of MSP where almost always higher then average. Don't let the DL name fool, you, most of the upper management with DL are ex NW people.

Not in our experience, so far the flights we've looked into with SW have been the most expensive options. They may have low fares to places we haven't traveled to however.

[queenswake]

I travel between the east coast and MSP a couple of times per month. The flight costs are absolutely ridiculous. Last summer, I got them in the $200s. In the fall, they starting getting closer to $300. In January, they were over $300 and now they are upper $300s if you are lucky, but more like $400 on up. The difference now is that these are the prices for virtually all airlines. It used to be that the Delta/NWA were always quite high, but you could always choose one of the other airlines with a layover for less. But now, everything is at the high Delta price. The prices should come down in the fall with the low travel season and the lower trending gas prices. But yeah, with these prices, it's hard to justify making the flights I used to do without thinking twice.

As others have said, Delta out of BWI is lower. Also, Sun Country out of DCA can be good if you can deal with the one flight time they have per day. US Air is starting a non-stop from DCA to MSP to provide some competition to Delta on that route so I personally am hoping that it will drive prices down. MSP needs a lot more competition. You can fly into Chicago all day long for much cheaper and flights going every hour.

Good luck. Not much we can do.

[sparksals]

Originally Posted by Glenfield

Was the Air Canada flight also a non-stop? I'm not sure about the schedule at that time, but currently Delta appears to have the only non-stop from MSP to Calgary, while the only Air Canada flight is a code share operated by United and connecting through O'Hare. The point I was trying to make is that one often pays more for a non-stop flight than a connection.

No, it wasn't. The deal I got with the lower fare was I had to fly on AC metal, not code-share flights which is why I had to go through Toronto and then take the 4 hour flight to Calgary. I could have probably found a cheap fare to Denver and then gotten a fare from Denver non-stop to Calgary. That would have been a shorter trip rather than going through TO or even ORD to pick up the AC flight.

Unfortunately, since I had to get home so quickly, I didn't have time to look at as many options as I would have planning a normal trip in advance. At any rate, the longer trip was well worth the savings. It would have cost us $2800 compared to $1200. Some bereavement fare that was, Delta!

[Beenhere4ever]

Oh they like to grab you by the short ones for immediate ticketing. The dark underside of the "economy fares". I was sick once, eager to see my doctor for some effective care. It was ridiculous. They don't have any special fare reduction for being sick.

[buckeyechick]

OMG! I feel your pain girlypower, next time I relocate I'll be looking at the cost of tickets before I say "hell yes" to moving 5 states away and to a different time zone. I would suggest a train, they have a passenger train stop here in MSP or maybe Megabus or Greyhound. Yes these modes of transporation do take longer but if they plan on staying a week or so, it could be worth the extra time.

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

Originally Posted by buckeyechick

OMG! I feel your pain girlypower, next time I relocate I'll be looking at the cost of tickets before I say "hell yes" to moving 5 states away and to a different time zone. I would suggest a train, they have a passenger train stop here in MSP or maybe Megabus or Greyhound. Yes these modes of transporation do take longer but if they plan on staying a week or so, it could be worth the extra time.

How about a car? I know 12 hours isn't a breeze but it costs much less than flying (to Columbus) and takes only a few hours longer in the end. You usually need an extra day or two to travel by car though, which is a big downside. Plus, you can always stay in Chicago to/from.

But we do drive over flying when going back and forth between Minneapolis and Ohio!