Why are the connecting flights within Azores free?
According to SATA Inter-island connecting flights website
Under the rules of the air transportation model on routes from Mainland Portugal - Azores and Azores - Madeira, SATA Air Açores is required to provide a routing service, free of charge, for passengers traveling within Azores, to or from Mainland Portugal or Funchal, intending to use any gateway in the Azores.
This means that if for example you're flying not from the main island (Ponta Delgada airport on São Miguel island) in the archipelago to the continent, you get the ticket to connect from your location to the main island for free.
Soon I'm going to fly from Flores to Porto, I only bought a ticket from Ponta Delgada to Porto and requested one from Flores to Ponta Delgada, I got it for free as expected.
I'm just curious - why exactly is SATA Air Açores required to provide this service? Who pays for those flights? What's the motivation for this?
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Can you travel between islands in Azores?
The one alternative to flying between the Azores is taking an Azores ferry. A boat ride is a pleasant and relaxed way to travel between the islands. It's also the fastest option when you're traveling between the central islands of S\xe3o Jorge, Pico, and Faial.Why do connecting flights cost less?
In a very basic sense, the airlines try and forecast supply and demand as best as they can for every single ticket, and then price each one accordingly so as to sell for the highest possible profit. This results in price discrimination, or charging different prices for the equivalent seat on an airplane.Is it cheaper to get connecting flights?
Connecting flights are generally not more expensive than direct ones. In fact, they are generally cheaper as some passengers may wish to pay more in order to get to their destination quicker with a direct flight.Can I skip the connecting flight?
But by skipping a leg of a connecting flight, you're breaching the airline's Conditions of Carriage, which gives them the right to cancel all of your frequent flyer points and any other bonuses. It's the only REAL penalty that airlines sometimes (but still very rarely) enforce.Azores Islands. The green wonder of Atlantic. Big Episode.
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Images: Peter Olexa, EKATERINA BOLOVTSOVA, Charlotte May, Alexander Suhorucov