How flying direct from Salt Lake can cost you more than a connecting flight to the same destination

BOUNTIFUL  — The McKinley family travels a lot – one or two trips a year, all over the world.

“This year we were just in Turkey, Greece, Italy and Spain,” said Travis McKinley.

While shopping for plane tickets to London next summer, the price really caught his eye.

“They’re super, super expensive,” McKinley said.

To take his extended family of 14 to London, McKinley will have to pony up a total of $45,990. The math on that works out to be $3,285 per ticket.

While lamenting that high cost to a friend in California, he learned not everyone is paying that much.

“(She) kept talking about how she was getting these fares over to Europe for $700, $800,” he said.

Connecting vs. Direct

McKinley, an accountant by profession, felt compelled to crunch the costs of tickets to London departing from several other cities besides Salt Lake.

“I looked at Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Seattle to London,” he said. “And they were all drastically cheaper.”

What really sticks in McKinley’s craw is that the flights he checked got even more “drastically cheaper” when the itinerary included layovers in Salt Lake City. For example, travelers who depart from Seattle and must board a connecting flight to London in Salt Lake pay $1,501. That’s a significant savings over the same plane and same seat on a direct flight from Salt Lake to London – which McKinley priced at $3,285.

Here’s the kicker: If McKinley and his family fly to Seattle from Salt Lake, then back to Salt Lake to connect with the London flight – they’re still going to save about $1,000 per ticket over the direct flight. It’s math that doesn’t make sense to him.

“When you’re having to add all the extra costs of fuel, labor, maintenance, food and I’m having to use four extra airplanes to accomplish the same thing,” he said.

And it’s not just London. The KSL Investigators found loads of other examples where Delta travelers coming from other cities and connecting here in Salt Lake can expect to pay less than someone whose trip starts here.

Going to Amsterdam for Valentine’s Day? You can snag a direct flight from Salt Lake for $962. But fliers departing LAX for Amsterdam who then connect in Salt Lake pay $882 – an $80 savings.

Thinking of Paris in November? We found a “comfort” seat for a somewhat uncomfortable $1,739. But if you’re willing to drive to Vegas to board the Paris flight that connects at Salt Lake International, you can save nearly $500.

Competing airlines at a hub airport

McKinley has a message for Delta Air Lines.

“Look, if you’re going to have this – price it fairly for us in Salt Lake,” he requested.

Katy Nastro of Going.com, a website that helps folks find cheaper flights, says she’s not surprised by our findings.

“It really can feel as though you’re being taken advantage,” she said.

One big reason this is happening: Competition.

“The single biggest factor in why we see cheap flights from one particular airport versus another, or on one particular route versus another, is how much competition is there,” Nastro said.

The Salt Lake City International Airport is a Delta hub, which allows the airline to offer a lot of destinations that the other airlines flying in and out of Salt Lake cannot.

Nastro says, on top of the competition, anytime an airplane leaves with an empty seat, it costs the airline money. That’s especially true on a long, international flight. So, it makes economic sense for Delta to fill seats with fliers coming in from Seattle, rather than letting the flight leave Salt Lake City with empty seats – even if those connecting flights are priced “dramatically cheaper” than the direct flights.

“Being in a hub city can be a benefit if you really enjoy flying on that one particular airline that has the hub there,” said Nastro. “But it also can be a detriment to getting cheap flights”

The KSL Investigators reached out to Delta Air Lines to ask about all of this. A spokesperson said their pricing is based on a customer’s point of origin and their final destination, writing, “Pricing for airfare is driven by supply and demand and is designed to be dynamic.”

Saving money

As for the McKinley family trip to London next summer, Todd McKinley said he’s holding off on booking with the hope the price on direct flights might come down. If it doesn’t, at least they could save $14,000 on airfare by flying to Seattle first to connect in Salt Lake for that flight across the pond.

“It’s kind of like, this is ridiculous” he lamented.

Nastro suggests setting up a price alert for a flight and watching it even after you book. Most airlines, including Delta Air Lines on most of their seats, will let you rebook at the lower fare if it comes down.