United and Star Alliance started a fare war yesterday when they posted low fares to many European countries from Los Angeles and Chicago and probably more cities. Today I looked at New York and noticed an interesting twist with United still offering low fares to many countries across Europe, but TAP Portugal operating from New York JFK has cities across Spain on sale from $550 to $650 round trip and Delta with European partner Eurowings also has many secondary regional airports in Spain on sale in low $600s.
For 24 hours I have been saying American Airlines will drop fares from the current $900s for most USA to Spain routes and combat the attacks by Star Alliance and now Delta too posting low cost tickets to many airports in Spain. The mysteries of airline revenue management keep me guessing.
Instead of American dropping ticket prices to Spain, they dropped prices to $400s for cities in Poland and the Baltic capitals of Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius for late summer travel in September and October. I don’t see any response from Delta/SkyTeam either to low Star Alliance fares to various cities in France and Italy.
Spain On Sale with United and Delta
United and TAP Portugal have Spain on sale from $549 to $650 for airports across the country beginning with September dates.
November 3 – November 10
$549 EWR – Barcelona BCN, United
$652 Valencia VLC, TAP Portugal ($549 Turkish Airlines).
$652 Seville SVQ, TAP Portugal
$653 Malaga, AGP, TAP Portugal
$654 Asturias OVD, TAP Portugal
Portugal
$626 Porto OPO, TAP Portugal ($549 Turkish Airlines).
Morocco
$681 Casablanca CMN, TAP Portugal
Delta and Eurowings match and beat many of the Star Alliance fares.
$624 Madrid MAD, Air Europa nonstop
$637 Palma Mallorca PMI, Air Europa via Madrid
$639 Vigo VGO, Air Europa via Madrid
$640 Bilbao BIO, Air Europa via Madrid
$640 Valencia VLC, Air Europa via Madrid
$647 Ibiza IBZ, Air Europa via Madrid ($637 in Sep-Oct)
$651 Barcelona BCN Air Europa via Madrid
$695 Alicante ALC, Air Europa via Madrid (Aeroflot $630 Dec-April 2017).
$695 Malaga AGP, Air Europa via Madrid
$701 Tenerife TFN, Canary Islands, Air Europa via Madrid
American Attacks the Eastern European Front with Low Fares in $400s late August – October dates
September 5 – 14 Google Flights Fare Map for Oneworld Alliance
$481 Tallinn, Estonia TLL, American/FinnAir
$481 Vilnius, Lithuania VNO, American/FinnAir
$484 Riga, Latvia RIX, American/FinnAir
$486 Gdansk, Poland GDN American/FinnAir
$499 Warsaw, Poland WAW, American/FinnAir (Sep12-20)
$521 Krakow, Poland KRK, American/FinnAir (Oct 6-16)
$605-$620 St. Petersburg, Russia LED, American/FinnAir September – April 29 dates
$606 – $636 Moscow, Russia SVO American/FinnAir September – April 29 dates
United/Star Alliance have slightly lower fares to Warsaw, but American is lowest on all the other routes.
American Airlines New York JFK – Helsinki, Finland HEL – Vilnius, Lithuania VNO – HEL – JFK
$480.26 round trip Mon Sep 5 – Sun Sep 11
I still think AA will drop fares to Spain today. I’ll wait and see.
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