Do airlines offer more flights if needed?

Example I am trying to book for Jan 2 -5 from Calgary canada to Las Vegas. I have been looking for a while but wasn’t sure when to book, Now it looks like most of the cheaper flights and good travel times are gone and this may cancel my trip all together.

My trip is 90 days before I go, do you know if the west jet or air Canada would create more flights for this date as the time comes sooner to accommodate more people or am I screwed? Do they hide good flights trying to sell more expensive ones for awhile?

 

no they're not going to add flights.

 

They won't add more flights, but more seats can become available. They are released in blocks to travel agents and aggregated booking systems and a lot are held on reserve for a period of time.

 

You also have to realize that they are not at full capacity, just the cheap flights and "good" travel times are taken, there are still plenty of flights available for those days, just less desirable so there is no need to add flights.

 

Yeah, you shouldn't have waited.

Because of New Years Eve, the CES show, the end of the holiday season... it all adds up where flights from anywhere to Las Vegas are very expensive at that time.

And with airports because they have so many flights coming and going each day it all has to be scheduled pretty far in advance... so no, the airlines aren't going to, and can't, add more flights.

 

You also have to remember that it's not the "flights" that are cheap or expensive, but the particular seat you're trying to book. That is to say, each flight will have a block of tickets at $X, a block of tickets at $Y, etc.; the former might require advance purchase, be nonrefundable, etc., while the latter could be bought closer to the date of the flight, could permit changes, or is generally more flexible.

 

Think you might have quoted the wrong person? I'm not saying anything other than more seats can become available for flights.

 

I'm going to go against the grain here and say that I have seen Delta add flights before to Vegas though I fly from a major Delta hub and direct Vegas flights are offered 6-8 times per day.

I wouldn't expect flights to be added though. I'd say your odds are near zero.

 

this is why if you know your dates for sure you always book when they are at a price you can live with. It does not take long for fares to change one way or another.

 

Airlines only add more daily flights if there's something big going on during that timeframe. For example, United adds more flights out of Newark during CES since they know they're going to get a lot of demand during that timeframe.

I wouldn't count on DL adding more flights if there's nothing big going on during your travel dates. It's also not a simple process to add in an extra flight from Point A to Point B.

 

It is very difficult to add more flights. They need equipment which is not just sitting around. And then crews, etc. And, if they send a plane to Vegas, then they have to figure out what to do with it next.

Airlines have entire departments that work the seats and pricing. They of course want to get as much as then can for each seat, but they do not want a flight to leave with empty seats as they can NEVER sell that seat again. Prices can move up and down daily depending on supply and demand.

 

dupe sorry

 

As I understand it, each flight has a slot to take off and another to land at an airport, and slots cannot be added very easily at busy airports. A plane isn't supposed to just show up. When one airline buys out another, it can inherit slots along with other assets. Two slots used together with a flight plan form a route.

Occasionally, if equipment is available, an airline can put a larger aircraft into a slot, and thereby carry more passengers on the same flight. It can also put on a smaller plane if seats are not filling up and if the larger aircraft's capacity is not needed somewhere down the line. If it upsizes, then seats may suddenly become available on a formerly full flight. If the latter, then seats passengers have reserved may be affected by the configuration of the substitute aircraft.

 

Thanks all, i guess ill see what i can do and book as soon as i can.

 

I booked a roundtrip flight for (2ppl) on SWA for my Dec Vegas trip. Our return flight home was originally set for 10:35am but it was not a direct flight which I wasn't thrilled about.
A few days ago I looked online and noticed there was a direct flight now leaving at 9:05am so I called and had it changed. This could have been an oversight on my part when first
booking or maybe a cost saving measure but the difference between the 2 flights was ONLY $72.20 Total for the 2 of us. I'm still puzzled that I would let that slip by me so I have to
think they added a new flight... However I could be wrong. I'm just happy to now have a direct flight home. Maybe I'm just getting OLD!

 

Exactly! Time slots are a huge issue for many airlines. This is the #1 issue airlines face when adding another fight.

 

Only time I ever saw flights added en masse was the one of a kind tragedy of 9-11, after US air space was opened back up.