Go figure... (air fares puzzlement)

On Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:48:31 -0400, John Doe
wrote:

Hatunen wrote:

What kind of sense does that make, $240 less to Paris than to LHR
using the exact same PHX-LHR flights???

It is called price fixing or competition, whatever way you want to call it.

If a competing airline offers $600 fares to Paris, then British Airways
will also offer $600 fares to Paris.

If load factors on those 2 flights are low (as they would be in
October), then BA can afford to sell very cheap tickets to fill what
would otherwise be empty seats. If competitors prices to London are $900
then BA will sell your london flight at $900.

What you could do is fly BA to paris, then take eurostar back to london :-)

Not so :-)...

I was actually thinking of doing both London and Paris, and the
$240 would go a long way toward Eurostar tickets.


Generally, those tricks are done by airlines who are in trouble (it
indicates their fare structure is not working properly whgich is partly
why the airline is in trouble).

BA is on record stating that USA-London is their cash cow. So they try
to milk customers for everything they've got. And this is one reason
governments are weary of allowing the AA/BA marriage without substantial
release of LHR slots to allow more airlines to do USA-LHR.

Have you tried BA from other cities in the USA to see if it would be
cheaper ? You could take the train to NYC and fly BA from JFK. Would
that be cheaper ?

I doubt it. The train fare from Tucson to NYC is exorbitant, not
least because the only train thorugh Tucson is the LA-New
Orleans. But you raise an interesting question: What if, for
example, I flew JetBlue or somesuch to NY and then BA to London
or Paris? Of course, there would be direct NYC-PAR flights in any
case.

I prefer BA for PHX-LON, though, because it doesn't require the
awkwardness of using another American airport on the way.

But this is turning into an interesting game. For those dates I
get BA NYC-LON of $747.37, so the PHX-LHR-CDG fight retains its
attractiveness.


--
************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

On Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:55:18 -0400, S Viemeister
wrote:

John Doe wrote:

Have you tried BA from other cities in the USA to see if it would be
cheaper ? You could take the train to NYC and fly BA from JFK. Would
that be cheaper ?

From _Phoenix_? Transcontinental train travel in the US isn't cheap.

Phoenix doesn't actually have an Amtrak station; it uses the
station at Maricopa, some distance south of town. But for train
travel I'd be traveling from Tucson, which has a station
downtown.

The train is still way expensive, though. I could go up to
Flagstaff to get the train, bue we are talking a journey of about
2500 miles/400 km which is going to be a bit pricey anywhere.

--
************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

"John Doe" wrote in message
...
Hatunen wrote:

What kind of sense does that make, $240 less to Paris than to LHR
using the exact same PHX-LHR flights???

It is called price fixing or competition, whatever way you want to call
it.

If a competing airline offers $600 fares to Paris, then British Airways
will also offer $600 fares to Paris.

If load factors on those 2 flights are low (as they would be in
October), then BA can afford to sell very cheap tickets to fill what
would otherwise be empty seats. If competitors prices to London are $900
then BA will sell your london flight at $900.

What you could do is fly BA to paris, then take eurostar back to london
:-)


Generally, those tricks are done by airlines who are in trouble

Not in my experience.

It is a trick used by all airlines, all the time

tim

On Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:48:31 -0400, John Doe wrote:



What you could do is fly BA to paris, then take eurostar back to london :-)

Whatever you do, do NOT do this, if you fail to show up for
any leg of the journey the whole ticket gets cancelled.

On Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:06:23 -0700, Irwell
wrote:

On Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:48:31 -0400, John Doe wrote:



What you could do is fly BA to paris, then take eurostar back to london :-)

Whatever you do, do NOT do this, if you fail to show up for
any leg of the journey the whole ticket gets cancelled.

I don't think you read the original problem carefully enough....

--
************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

Hatunen wrote:
On Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:23:30 +0100, (David
Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)) wrote:

Hatunen wrote:

I was giving some thought to flyig to England in a few months,
and as a British Air club member I decided to look for some
typical fares on BA.

What I found was a total return fare of $923.37 PHX-LHR for 20
Oct outbound and 2 Nov return on flights BA 288 and BA 289,
respectively.

So I idly thought maybe I'll check fares to Paris as well on
those dates. What I got was a total fare of $682.80 PHX-LHR-CDG
on flights BA 288 and BA 316 outbound and BA 303 and BA289
return.

What kind of sense does that make, $240 less to Paris than to LHR
using the exact same PHX-LHR flights???

My brane hertz.
Dave, this comes up a lot in the newsgroups. It's common practice I'm
afraid.

I know it is, but the price gap seems notably large.

Is it possible more people are interested in going to London than to
Paris? (For myself, either destination would be acceptable, were I
still able to travel.)

John Doe wrote:
Hatunen wrote:

What kind of sense does that make, $240 less to Paris than to LHR
using the exact same PHX-LHR flights???

It is called price fixing or competition, whatever way you want to call it.

If a competing airline offers $600 fares to Paris, then British Airways
will also offer $600 fares to Paris.

If load factors on those 2 flights are low (as they would be in
October), then BA can afford to sell very cheap tickets to fill what
would otherwise be empty seats. If competitors prices to London are $900
then BA will sell your london flight at $900.

What you could do is fly BA to paris, then take eurostar back to london :-)


Generally, those tricks are done by airlines who are in trouble (it
indicates their fare structure is not working properly whgich is partly
why the airline is in trouble).

BA is on record stating that USA-London is their cash cow. So they try
to milk customers for everything they've got. And this is one reason
governments are weary of allowing the AA/BA marriage without substantial
release of LHR slots to allow more airlines to do USA-LHR.

Have you tried BA from other cities in the USA to see if it would be
cheaper ? You could take the train to NYC and fly BA from JFK. Would
that be cheaper ?

I'm not sure any savings would be worth the inconvenience of a train
trip from Phoenix AZ to NYC! (It's about 3/4 of the distance across a
VERY large continent.)

"John Doe" wrote in message
...
Hatunen wrote:

What kind of sense does that make, $240 less to Paris than to LHR
using the exact same PHX-LHR flights???

Have you tried BA from other cities in the USA to see if it would be
cheaper ? You could take the train to NYC and fly BA from JFK. Would
that be cheaper ?


I doubt if the OP would really want to take Amtrak to New York to connect
with a flight out of JFK. It would require a minimum of 66 hours each way on
the train, including the connection in New Orleans or Chicago.
--
JohnT

Martin wrote:

On Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:44:47 +0100, (David Horne, _the_
chancellor (*)) wrote:

Hatunen wrote:

On Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:23:30 +0100, (David
Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)) wrote:

Hatunen wrote:

I was giving some thought to flyig to England in a few months,
and as a British Air club member I decided to look for some
typical fares on BA.

What I found was a total return fare of $923.37 PHX-LHR for 20
Oct outbound and 2 Nov return on flights BA 288 and BA 289,
respectively.

So I idly thought maybe I'll check fares to Paris as well on
those dates. What I got was a total fare of $682.80 PHX-LHR-CDG
on flights BA 288 and BA 316 outbound and BA 303 and BA289
return.

What kind of sense does that make, $240 less to Paris than to LHR
using the exact same PHX-LHR flights???

My brane hertz.

Dave, this comes up a lot in the newsgroups. It's common practice I'm
afraid.

I know it is, but the price gap seems notably large.

Not in my experience.

bugger your experience the difference is notably large )

It's not unusual, that's all.

--
(*) of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
www.davidhorne.net (email address on website)
"[Do you think the world learned anything from the first
world war?] No. They never learn." -Harry Patch (1898-2009)

On Fri, 28 Aug 2009 00:04:41 +0200, Martin
wrote:

On Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:48:29 +0100, (David Horne) wrote:

Martin wrote:

On Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:44:47 +0100, (David Horne, _the_
chancellor (*)) wrote:

Hatunen wrote:

On Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:23:30 +0100, (David
Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)) wrote:

Hatunen wrote:

I was giving some thought to flyig to England in a few months,
and as a British Air club member I decided to look for some
typical fares on BA.

What I found was a total return fare of $923.37 PHX-LHR for 20
Oct outbound and 2 Nov return on flights BA 288 and BA 289,
respectively.

So I idly thought maybe I'll check fares to Paris as well on
those dates. What I got was a total fare of $682.80 PHX-LHR-CDG
on flights BA 288 and BA 316 outbound and BA 303 and BA289
return.

What kind of sense does that make, $240 less to Paris than to LHR
using the exact same PHX-LHR flights???

My brane hertz.

Dave, this comes up a lot in the newsgroups. It's common practice I'm
afraid.

I know it is, but the price gap seems notably large.

Not in my experience.

bugger your experience the difference is notably large )

It's not unusual, that's all.

but it is notably large. Hatunen noted it.

Any chance you could leave me out of this?

--
************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *