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Why do certain flights cost more out of BWI than other local airport i.e. Reagan or Dulles?

BigBen3909
Explorer C

I used to pay 59.00 to travel to Providence, 89.00 or a little higher to Tampa, but now SW is charging 111.00 and 154.00 respectively to these locations as their ”discount fares” At the same time offering  lower fares to these locations at Reagan Airport, and sometimes Dulles.  Why are we being charged more to fly out of BWI, with the millions of dollars the state is giving to expand the airport and to primarily SW benefits, they keep raising the price of flights out of that airport. Why? 

 

Oh and here is one, it costs 59.00 to fly  BWI to Boston, but 111. 00 to providence ? And SW offers 59.00 from Reagan to Providence? ! . Please don’t they are saving on the cost of gas.. 

 

 

5 REPLIES 5

Re: Why do certain flights cost more out of BWI than other local airport i.e. Reagan or Dulles?

dfwskier
Aviator A

I'd imagine the situation you describe is due to competition -- or maybe lack of competition at BWI. All airlines price tickets to what they think the market wil bear.

 

You probably have two options:

 

1) Fly out of one of the other airports

 

2) Since SW tickets prices are  moving objects (they do sometimes come down), buy a ticket out of BWI and then keep watching prices. If they come down, then trade in your ticket for a lower priced one, and receive travel funds good for a future flight (that would need to be completed within a year of the date you bought the first ticket).

 

You could even trade in your BWI ticket  for a flight out of IAD or DCA.

Re: Why do certain flights cost more out of BWI than other local airport i.e. Reagan or Dulles?

elijahbrantley
Aviator A

Are the flights from those airports direct?

 

SW does not have a large presence at IAD, so you may not have as many options from there. 

The question becomes: if BWI is convenient for you, is it worth spending more to get to the other airports to save some money on the fare?

 

-A List, Companion Pass holder

Re: Why do certain flights cost more out of BWI than other local airport i.e. Reagan or Dulles?

BigBen3909
Explorer C

Thanks for the replies, but to answer a few questions that arose;

 

Yes, these are direct flights. 

 

Yes, I would rather fly out of BWI, and if you are from this area, you would know that Reagan is a cluster f___ to get to and fly out of...not worth the savings.  Dulles a little better but not much, I Live in Maryland so BWI is the best choice.

 

So back to my question to SW  and the community, is why is their pricing model so skewed to charging more on these flights out of BWI.. literally almost double of what they were and are?  

 

It it just means that I and my family fly less than we had, and I just don’t get the logic..  I want to bring an awareness to these facts that Southwest is charging more for flights out of BWI and for people to say something about it... 

Re: Why do certain flights cost more out of BWI than other local airport i.e. Reagan or Dulles?

SWDigits
Aviator A
There are two sides to every coin. I only have my personal observations but to me it seems like flights are usually cheaper and with more direct routing out of BWI rather than DCA. I can get to DCA with a quick trip on Metro and I can get to BWI with a little more time and effort on Amtrak. We are usually pretty flexible with our travel dates and we try to book well in advance of our travel dates but I'm usually willing to pay the premium for the convenience of flying out of DCA.

Customer | Home airport DCA

Re: Why do certain flights cost more out of BWI than other local airport i.e. Reagan or Dulles?

dfwskier
Aviator A

@BigBen3909 wrote:

   I want to bring an awareness to these facts that Southwest is charging more for flights out of BWI and for people to say something about it... 

 

Saying something about it is unlikely to change anything. Doing something about it might. Doing something means flying out of one of the other airports or flying another airline. If the airline suddenly sees a significant drop in passengers out of BWI, then it will likely adjust fares.