Hanaleiradio
Level 2 Member
For decades now January and February seem to be the months where the airline execs are bored and start getting feisty with each other. It's nearly guaranteed that during the next 6 weeks some airline top exec will be publicly caught making some extremely disparaging remark about a competitor. And like clockwork its usual for the airlines to start attacking each other's hubs.
A hub attack is when an airline offers outrageously low fares to many popular destinations from a city that is a hub for one of its competitors, in the hope that the competitor will be forced to match those low fares to maintain market share, and thereby lose revenue from prime routes. Often the competitor will do nothing, and after a few days the attacking airline will withdraw the low fare. But sometimes the competitor will match, or even better the attack fare, which may set off a mini-price war. And sometimes the competitor will also counterattack the hubs of the attacking airline, which can lead to some amazing fares.
I feared that with the consolidation of the industry nearly complete the hub attacks would become extinct. But boys will be boys, and sure enough early January has brought on the year's first major hub attack. As was the case last year, Delta is the attacker. Initially they went after most of United's hubs, and now appear to be going after several of American's hubs as well. (One example: a sub $500 RT fare DFW-HNL!) Check The Flight Deal listings for Chicago, Dallas, San Franciso, Miami, etc to get a flavor.
So far, American has not matched the Delta fares--at least not on the route's I've checked--nor have they counter-attacked Delta's hubs. Last year American often matched, but rarely counterattacked. However, they were still exiting BK, so were in no great position to do so. United, on the other hand, launched some very nice counter attacks on Delta hubs last year. They haven't done that this year--yet!
Pay particular attention to The Fight Deal for the next 6-8 weeks. If things play out this year like they have in years past, these hub attacks will produce many of the lowest fares of the year.
A hub attack is when an airline offers outrageously low fares to many popular destinations from a city that is a hub for one of its competitors, in the hope that the competitor will be forced to match those low fares to maintain market share, and thereby lose revenue from prime routes. Often the competitor will do nothing, and after a few days the attacking airline will withdraw the low fare. But sometimes the competitor will match, or even better the attack fare, which may set off a mini-price war. And sometimes the competitor will also counterattack the hubs of the attacking airline, which can lead to some amazing fares.
I feared that with the consolidation of the industry nearly complete the hub attacks would become extinct. But boys will be boys, and sure enough early January has brought on the year's first major hub attack. As was the case last year, Delta is the attacker. Initially they went after most of United's hubs, and now appear to be going after several of American's hubs as well. (One example: a sub $500 RT fare DFW-HNL!) Check The Flight Deal listings for Chicago, Dallas, San Franciso, Miami, etc to get a flavor.
So far, American has not matched the Delta fares--at least not on the route's I've checked--nor have they counter-attacked Delta's hubs. Last year American often matched, but rarely counterattacked. However, they were still exiting BK, so were in no great position to do so. United, on the other hand, launched some very nice counter attacks on Delta hubs last year. They haven't done that this year--yet!
Pay particular attention to The Fight Deal for the next 6-8 weeks. If things play out this year like they have in years past, these hub attacks will produce many of the lowest fares of the year.
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