Delta's high fares leave some Eugene travelers feeling low.

Byline: Joe Harwood The Register-Guard

Like many other local travelers, Kay Hyde-Patton greeted the Delta Air Lines launch of commercial air service between Eugene and Salt Lake City with optimism.

Lured by the $180 introductory round-trip fare the airline had advertised between the cities, Hyde-Patton figured she and her husband could easily grab a connecting flight from Salt Lake City - a Delta hub - to Dallas-Fort Worth, where the couple would meet up with both sets of parents in July.

But she got sticker shock when she checked the fares now listed on Delta's Web site. Round-trip tickets from Eugene to Salt Lake City were $500 each, she said. A United Express flight out of Eugene on the same day would cost about $150 less.

"It's just crazy because here they are trying to make it sound like they're benefiting us with extra flights, yet they are charging us an arm and a leg," Hyde-Patton said. "They aren't doing us a community service."

The discount travel Web site Expedia.com listed Delta flights at round-trip prices between $390 and $514 for a Monday in mid-July, depending on departure time. Delta flights on the same day departing Portland for Salt Lake ranged from $230 to $264.

Delta's Web site listed a price of $591.40 round-trip from Eugene to Dallas-Fort Worth on a Friday in mid-July. On the same day, the cost to fly out of Portland to Dallas-Fort Worth was listed at $399.40 round-trip.

Such are the fiscal realities of flying out of a small regional airport such as Eugene.

With a smaller volume of passengers and planes with less capacity compared with Portland International Airport or Sea-Tac International Airport, commercial air carriers argue that they have to charge more to eke out a profit.

Eugene Airport General Manager Bob Noble said Portland is likely to have the more deeply discounted fares simply because it has more planes and hence more seats to fill. "There will always be a larger volume of cheaper seats out of the larger airports," he said.

Noble noted that travel and airline Web sites don't always provide the lowest-cost fares.

Airlines "steer you to Web sites because that's where they want you to buy," he said. "My advice is to call your travel agent because they are under-recognized for what they can do for people."

Noble said the aggregate disparity in fares between flights leaving Eugene and Portland and heading to the nation's 25 busiest airports (such as Phoenix, Los Angeles, Newark and Orlando) runs about $40.

He added that the airport consistently monitors fares charged by its commercial carriers and points out anomalies to the airlines. "We address that with them, but they don't always agree."

A Delta spokesman in Atlanta declined comment.

More often than not, cheaper fares can be had by driving to Portland, but not always, said 20-year travel veteran Virginia Maynard, an agent with Lee World Travel in Eugene.

"If you have a family of five, it might be wiser to go up to Portland, but then you have to add parking and maybe a hotel," Maynard said.

She said the Eugene-or-Portland question comes up all the time. "I promote Eugene as much as I can, but when you're in a situation with a large family, it makes better sense to go through Portland."

On Monday, Maynard pulled up a July Delta flight from Eugene to Dallas-Fort Worth for $457.40. The restrictions included a departure date falling on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, and staying over a Saturday night. The same ticket out of Portland cost $399.40, a savings of $58 that would quickly be eaten up by parking or hotel fees, she noted.

Vivian Kouba, a travel agent with Ambassador Travel in Eugene, said the difference in fares between Portland and Eugene usually runs in the $50-to-$100 range.

"I have to say I hear from (customers) fairly regularly that it's less expensive to fly out of Portland," Kouba said. "But just as frequently, I hear they like the convenience of flying out of Eugene."

Cary Schmierer and his wife, Olivia, have been to Europe twice, flown to meet three cruise ships and made regular flights to Los Angeles to see their daughter - all in the past three years. The retired Eugene couple has always flown out of Eugene for those trips, but those days may be ending.

Schmierer said he's been monitoring flights on discount travel Web sites for several months in anticipation of buying tickets to San Francisco in October to hook up with a cruise ship. He said over the past two months, discrepancies between fares offered out of Eugene and Portland have grown.

Last Thursday, Schmierer said Expedia.com offered round-trip United Express fares - departing and arriving on weekdays when fares are usually less - from Eugene to San Francisco for $291. The same dates flying out of Portland were running $144.

"Frankly we've never flown out of Portland," he said. "If tickets are $20 to $50 more expensive, we choose to support our local airport. But when you're talking about $147 more, that's just crazy."

"If they don't do something about the fares, I'll take the Amtrak to Portland or Seattle and fly from there," Schmierer said.

Maynard, the agent with Lee World Travel, said United fares from Eugene to San Francisco are likely to come down in midsummer. "I've seen it under $200 out of Eugene before," she said.

An analysis of 80,000 tickets conducted between July 1, 2002, and June 30, 2003, found that the average one-way fare out of Eugene cost $164, while flying out of Portland cost an average of $135, Noble said.

"There are cheaper flights out of Eugene, you just have to do your homework and call your travel agent," Maynard said.

CAPTION(S):

A Delta Air Lines flight from Salt Lake City arrives at the Eugene Airport on Monday afternoon.