> I almost always book the minimum flight, basic economy, whether or not I am paying. There is so little to be gained from moving up compared to the price.

I recently had a five month period where I took a plane ride every single week for work. A “frequent traveler” so to speak.

To me, the big difference between basic economy and regular is the ability to cancel (for a credit) up until the flight takes off. When you travel once in a while, this isn’t worth that much. When you travel every week, it’s huge. For example, when I travel (round trip) 3-5 times a year (which is my normal cadence), I’m not gonna really care if I booked an 8pm flight but last minute decided that I have time to get on a 6pm. An extra two hours not-at-home is no big deal, maybe even a good thing. When you travel every week, the ability to change later minute is huge (and contrary to popular belief, I found that it is often the case that last minute flights are the same price or cheaper, depending on the route, though it can also be wildly more expensive).

In addition to changing my mind about when to leave, don’t get me started on delays. If I saw my flight was delayed two hours (which often means that it’ll end up cancelling or taking off 6 hours late), I’d immediately book an alternative (if I could find one at a decent price) and then cancel one of them right before departure.

Aside from this, seat selection is important, especially if you travel a lot (the lifestyle is hard enough to begin with). You can usually buy seats in basic economy and the whole thing will be cheaper, but assuming you are going to do that, then the difference is gonna be $25-30 which is basically the “right to cancel” fee.

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tomrod 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

Economists call this type of pricing strategy price discrimination. Basically you have a different marginal willingness to pay than others because of your frequency.

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CGMthrowaway 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

If you travel every week for work, I would be booking full fare (refundable), not non-basic restricted fares. Especially since if you are booking inside a week of departure the difference is not that great anyway.

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LeafItAlone 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

>If you travel every week for work, I would be booking full fare (refundable), not non-basic restricted fares.

Why? I don’t fly that much, especially for work, and I’ve never had a problem getting to use my credits from cancelling flights. The price difference between credit-refundable and full refundable is usually significant and doesn’t offer me anything.

	▲	CGMthrowaway 2 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		If the price difference is significant then sure. My experience booking 3-5 days ahead of time is there isn't much difference. In addition to no credits to keep track of, which don't seem to be your concern, - simplifies expense filing - if paying with a personal card (vs a corporate card), i'm not floating extra cash that is now converted to a credit - full fare is less likely to get bumped on overbooking - more miles / credits towards status
	▲	dtnewman 2 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		this. And since I was traveling every week, it was even easier to know that i'd use the credit. Not worth paying extra for a cash refund.

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JustExAWS 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

If something is happening in my life where I can’t use my airline credit within a year, I’ve got bigger issues. Even then at least with Delta, you just have to book a flight using the credit before it expires - and the flight can be after the credit would have expired - wait 24 hours cancel the ticket and then receive a new credit that resets the timer.

	▲	selkin 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		Or ask customer service to extend the validity period. YMMV, but this worked for me the few times I tried.

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closeparen 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Isn’t the biggest difference the ability to bring a carry-on suitcase? I’ve always found that immediately and categorically disqualifying for basic economy. There’s never been a situation where I could fly somewhere with just the clothes on my back.

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JustExAWS 2 days ago | parent [-]

Only the budget carriers like Frontier and Spirit charge extra for carry on. Even the second tier airlines like JetBlue and Southwest don’t charge for carry ons.

The issue is boarding priority and you may not have overhead space and still be forced to gate check your carry on (for free).

In the case of Delta, it’s a combination of not being able to choose your seat, no refunds or airline credit for canceling or changing your flight and no miles earned toward future flights.

I can’t speak for the other airlines.

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senkora 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

Basic economy tickets do not always include a carry on.

https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/travel/inflight/basic-econo...

> Carry-on bags are only free on flights* to South America, across the Atlantic or to international destinations across the Pacific.

> On all other flights, you must pay to check your bags in the airport lobby. The bag fee starts at $35.

	▲	JustExAWS 2 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Until 3 years ago, we flew out of ATL and only occasionally and only domestically. So our default choice was of course - just fly Delta. After all of the stars aligned around mid 2021, we moved to Orlando and started flying more. Our default choice is still to fly Delta domestically because of familiarity, status, lounge access and we don’t mind a layover in ATL since it is our former home, familiarity and lounge access - Delta has nine lounges in ATL. If we really just want to get somewhere without layover. I will look on flights from - https://flightsfrom.com/{Airport code} And see what airline has a non stop flight. The only airline I refuse to fly domestically is Southwest because of non reserve seating until next year. But it’s rare that we will choose an airline that’s not Delta. Internationally, we prefer Delta or SkyTeam airlines like Virgin or AirFrance. We don’t shop based on price, the only time we compare flights is for convenience, we don’t fly first class or anything. But we just don’t like the hassle of flying airlines besides Delta. Of course if we lived in an AA or United hub, it would be different. So substitute Delta for airline where you have status and/or a cobranded credit card that gives you some minor convenience.
	▲	hdjrudni 2 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I encountered this for the first time this year. Bought the cheapest ticket, didn't think they'd exclude carry-on. Ended up having to WhatsApp (in Spanish) then to add it on for $250 round trip. Insane.

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Zak 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

United forbids full-size carry-ons in basic economy; American and Delta do not. The inconsistency could be a big issue for people comparison shopping.

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contrarian1234 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

are flight delays common in the US? ive been flying very regularly primarily around Asia for around a decade. (every 2 months or so) and ive never had a flight delayed more than hour (last minute at the gate always) anything longer.. i could only imagine it happening if there was a typhoon or something

	▲	ghaff 2 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Mechanical difficulties, weather esp. snow, air traffic control hold on incoming flights, etc. I wouldn't say >1 hr. delays were necessarily common but they're not rare either.
	▲	ajmurmann 2 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		In my experience it depends on the route. I use SFO a lot and delays are quite common there because the they get a lot of fog and their runways are too close together for regulation to allow use of adjacent runways under bad visibility.