Go figure... (air fares puzzlement)

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

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.

--
(*) 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 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.

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

"Hatunen" kirjoitti
viestissä

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???

This has been very common a practice. It is called a "Hidden city" scheme.
Nowadays it isn't as common because it is more difficult to maintain
monopolies in air routes. Until recently it was typical that a two way
ticket HEL-BKK was 40-50% more expensive than a return ticket in route
TLL-HEL-BKK.

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.

--
(*) 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)

"Hatunen" wrote in message
news

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???

The same seat in the same aircraft can have up to 20 different prices,
depending upon what sort of ticket you buy, where you buy it from, how long
before the flight you buy and how many people have bought tickets before
you. A couple I met a few years ago at Toulouse had paid prices for the same
flight that differed by £60, because she had bought hers online in the
morning and he had not bought his until he got home in the evening, by which
time the prices had gone up.

Colin Bignell

On Aug 27, 7:20*pm, 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 HATUNEN ) *************
* ** * * * Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow * * * * *
* ** My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

how much was one-way ?

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 ?

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.

On Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:28:24 -0700 (PDT), meat n 2 veg
wrote:

On Aug 27, 7:20*pm, 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.

how much was one-way ?

$1336

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