Thieving flight prices.
Discussion
I've had about a t*tful of airlines during the summer holidays.
How ridiculous is this?
Last two weeks in August - fly for 2 weeks to Mallorca - £1144 for 5 of us. Fly for ONE week - either one - and the flights go up to over £2700. Similar story for Malaga. So it's actually cheaper to go for 2 weeks with the cost of the additional week in a villa but regrettably, my son has an unchangeable hospital appointment during the first week. Grrrr....
They're all at it and, at this rate, I won't be paying their ransom. Why can't they just charge a single fixed price and stop p*ssing off travellers by changing the prices every day?
How ridiculous is this?
Last two weeks in August - fly for 2 weeks to Mallorca - £1144 for 5 of us. Fly for ONE week - either one - and the flights go up to over £2700. Similar story for Malaga. So it's actually cheaper to go for 2 weeks with the cost of the additional week in a villa but regrettably, my son has an unchangeable hospital appointment during the first week. Grrrr....
They're all at it and, at this rate, I won't be paying their ransom. Why can't they just charge a single fixed price and stop p*ssing off travellers by changing the prices every day?
Maybe but we fill the planes and all the flights above are in the school holidays. I could understand it if any part of it were outside.
We had a holiday two weeks ago at what I would class as reasonable rates and the plane was still not full.
I would be far happier having a fixed price somewhere between the two but there is nothing more infuriating than finding a flight for, let's say £1300 and the following day sorting some accommodation, going back to book flights and wallop, £200, £300, £400 more overnight. If that doesn't irk any reasonable buyer and make them think "F*ck it", I don't know what will.
We had a holiday two weeks ago at what I would class as reasonable rates and the plane was still not full.
I would be far happier having a fixed price somewhere between the two but there is nothing more infuriating than finding a flight for, let's say £1300 and the following day sorting some accommodation, going back to book flights and wallop, £200, £300, £400 more overnight. If that doesn't irk any reasonable buyer and make them think "F*ck it", I don't know what will.
thehawk said:
Another person who is unable to grasp the concept of supply and demand.
Perfectly able to grasp it but demand would likely be greater if they stopped moving the goalposts - mind you, I'm sure you're far more clever because you can compose a trite sentence without making any selling mistakes. Well done. 
LuS1fer said:
Perfectly able to grasp it but demand would likely be greater if they stopped moving the goalposts
So you are saying airlines deliberately let seats go unsold just to spite parents by jacking up prices over school holidays? Not because they hire pretty smart people to forecast demand and constantly monitor and adjust ticket prices to ensure optimal revenue and loading?
Deva Link said:
It's hard to imagine what the logic in that is.
It's simply the fact those flights at the particular time are more expensive because they will be in greater demand.It's the same logic as flying over Xmas - fly 2 weeks over Xmas and New Year and you pay a premium, fly for 4 weeks and you'll probably halve your ticket costs.
thehawk said:
It's simply the fact those flights at the particular time are more expensive because they will be in greater demand.
It's the same logic as flying over Xmas - fly 2 weeks over Xmas and New Year and you pay a premium, fly for 4 weeks and you'll probably halve your ticket costs.
Is it that you didn't read the OP, or that you didn't understand it?It's the same logic as flying over Xmas - fly 2 weeks over Xmas and New Year and you pay a premium, fly for 4 weeks and you'll probably halve your ticket costs.
Deva Link said:
He was talking about taking individual weeks from the same fortnight at the end of August.
The comparison with 2 weeks or 4 weeks at Christmas makes no sense - 4 weeks completely bridges Christmas.
Flights in the middle of the fortnight are more expensive and/or they want to incentivise you to go for 2 weeks.The comparison with 2 weeks or 4 weeks at Christmas makes no sense - 4 weeks completely bridges Christmas.
"Simples".
thehawk said:
So you are saying airlines deliberately let seats go unsold just to spite parents by jacking up prices over school holidays?
Not because they hire pretty smart people to forecast demand and constantly monitor and adjust ticket prices to ensure optimal revenue and loading?
I understand prices are higher in school holidays but here's the thing:Not because they hire pretty smart people to forecast demand and constantly monitor and adjust ticket prices to ensure optimal revenue and loading?
One week at a mid price and they fill 5 seats. Changing and increasing the prices every day means they lose 5 fares altogether and because I can see they are offering the same flights for half the price in the same period, I'm already crossing them off my list for this holiday and every other holiday.
My point is fairly simple and basic - every other commodity like cars are sold at a fixed price. They may get discounted at certain times but you always know what you're paying. As I have tried to say, if on Friday, you see a price for 5 fares you are willing to pay then if that goes up several hundred pounds for no apparent reason, you're not going to be willing to pay.
You can argue all you like that by jacking up prices to what the market will bear, they are optimising profit but, at that point, they've already lost 5 fares and if they don't find bums to put on those seats, they may end up having to reduce the prices but will already have p*ssed off the person who will probably have booked elsewhere.
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