I live in Lincoln, Ne and one of my business partner lives in Minneapolis. At least once a month either I travel to Minneapolis or he comes here. Minneapolis is a hub to Northwest region so we are having the facility of direct flights there. We can get there in about a 40 minute ride so that makes a nice direct flight.
But unfortunately this round trip of 40-min costs round about 800 to 1200 USD. Isn’t it crazy? 2 years before when we were having our business with 9 times welterweight champion of the world Matt Hughes I used to go to St. Louis and you will not believe, it just cost me 180-USD to fly from Lincoln Nebraska to Minneapolis to St Louis. And when I looked dup the cost of same flight from just Lincoln to Minneapolis nowadays, it was costing 1170-USD.
Let me explain through an example:
Yesterday when I wrote this I was just considering the rates of flights to Minneapolis nowadays and that pushed me to write this post.
Did you see? It costs 1,004.66 USD for a round trip ticket.
And look here; the same destination but with an EXTRA leg to St. Louis:
That’s right its just $603.72 cents. This saving of more than 400 USD comes by adding on one extra trip to St. Louis.
I can understand what are you thinking? You will say this is probably a last minute booking and that’s why this unusual thing happened. Ok I can show you the same one many times and with more “normal pricing” that we see.
See that screenshot; it’s a month
The price: $805.59
Now add some more same flights but with an extra leg to St. Louis:
$165.58 that becomes 83% discount!
As I am doing this for two years and successfully saved if nothing more then at least $20,000.00. What I usually do is not to take the leg to St. Louis. Hence when the route is LNK -> MSP -> STL I stay at msp and come back when it flies as STL -> MSP -> LNK I board at MSP – Minneapolis.
What’s the myth here?
I am very much happy of myself for finding this loop hole but on the other hand since I have a big mouth so whenever I meet any talkative flight attendant I cannot stop myself from telling him what I am doing. They say that they will advise their friends to do the same!
They say the reason why this method goes successful is because this Northwest hub is situated in Minneapolis and they completely gouge all the direct flights going to and coming from Minneapolis. Another big problem is that they end up with many flights with empty seats.
Does it works for other airlines?
So it is probably only Northwest that makes this? No. I do the same with United and it worked. By taking a direct flight from Lincoln to Chicago it costs approximately 900USD but if I fly to NYC it will take only 350 USD. Why is it this? Same again; since Chicago is a hub for United.
So check it out in your area particularly when you are having direct flight towards a major hub for an airline; this way you will get a big discount.
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Yes! This definitely works, what you’re paying for on a direct, without stopovers is convenience and usually a lot smoother day. Every time you stop and start there is another chance for a weather, ATC, or mechanical delay.
If you’re prepared for a longer day, (bring food and entertainment), then I say it’s a great way to save a lot of money: )