Competitive pricing
Discussion
All this talk of recession and empty seats on planes got me thinking about taking my wife to New York for a bit of Christmas shopping around her birthday in early December.
Ran quotes with Virgin Upper Class and British Airways Business Class. The first came in at £3,730.80 and the latter ar £3,731 - a difference of 20p!
Part of me thinks that the two firms can't be colluding, as every time they have in the past Virgin blows the whistle on BA and drops them in it (somehow managing to get off without blame in spite of being part of the pact!)
But on the other hand, you do have to wonder how two supposedly competitive companies can possible come up with such a similar price on such an expensive product when there are so many areas, in this kind of service, to manage cost and value.
Any other products/services where you think something's wrong with the way the market is priced?
Ran quotes with Virgin Upper Class and British Airways Business Class. The first came in at £3,730.80 and the latter ar £3,731 - a difference of 20p!
Part of me thinks that the two firms can't be colluding, as every time they have in the past Virgin blows the whistle on BA and drops them in it (somehow managing to get off without blame in spite of being part of the pact!)
But on the other hand, you do have to wonder how two supposedly competitive companies can possible come up with such a similar price on such an expensive product when there are so many areas, in this kind of service, to manage cost and value.
Any other products/services where you think something's wrong with the way the market is priced?
ninja-lewis said:
They'll have systems in place to monitor the other's prices and undercut it by a few pence I suspect.
If you look at the likes of play.com, Amazon and thehut, they often have prices very close to each other in odd amounts of pennies (i.e. Amazon is £6.99, play.com is £6.97).
I'd argue that your example is somewhat different. The sites you mentioned are all just resellers of a product they bought wholesale. There's very little opportunity to add or take away value on a DVD.If you look at the likes of play.com, Amazon and thehut, they often have prices very close to each other in odd amounts of pennies (i.e. Amazon is £6.99, play.com is £6.97).
V8mate said:
All this talk of recession and empty seats on planes got me thinking about taking my wife to New York for a bit of Christmas shopping around her birthday in early December.
Ran quotes with Virgin Upper Class and British Airways Business Class. The first came in at £3,730.80 and the latter ar £3,731 - a difference of 20p!
Part of me thinks that the two firms can't be colluding, as every time they have in the past Virgin blows the whistle on BA and drops them in it (somehow managing to get off without blame in spite of being part of the pact!)
But on the other hand, you do have to wonder how two supposedly competitive companies can possible come up with such a similar price on such an expensive product when there are so many areas, in this kind of service, to manage cost and value.
Any other products/services where you think something's wrong with the way the market is priced?
Why on earth would you spend that on a plane seat for 7 hours? Economy costs around £600, saving you £3,100 (x2 if there will be 2 of you) that you can spend on hotels, restaurants, shopping. Look at it this way, over £6000 free spending money when you buy 2 economy class tickets!Ran quotes with Virgin Upper Class and British Airways Business Class. The first came in at £3,730.80 and the latter ar £3,731 - a difference of 20p!
Part of me thinks that the two firms can't be colluding, as every time they have in the past Virgin blows the whistle on BA and drops them in it (somehow managing to get off without blame in spite of being part of the pact!)
But on the other hand, you do have to wonder how two supposedly competitive companies can possible come up with such a similar price on such an expensive product when there are so many areas, in this kind of service, to manage cost and value.
Any other products/services where you think something's wrong with the way the market is priced?
V8mate said:
tomTVR said:
Sharwoods Mango Chutney - every single supermarket is very expensive, i mean how hard can it be to pickle mangos? Yet it is £2 for a big jar.
But that's the same product. Sharwoods Mango Chutney isn't the same price as Tesco Mango Chutney.It is a conspiracy i tell you!
Silver993tt said:
Why on earth would you spend that on a plane seat for 7 hours? Economy costs around £600, saving you £3,100 (x2 if there will be 2 of you) that you can spend on hotels, restaurants, shopping. Look at it this way, over £6000 free spending money when you buy 2 economy class tickets!
This is Pistonheads! God help anyone who admits to travelling cattle class*(I agree with you, for the sake of 7 hours each way in a smaller seat I'd rather have the extra spending money thanks!)
- Apart from whinging about being 'forced' to travel economy on business!
YZF600R said:
Silver993tt said:
Why on earth would you spend that on a plane seat for 7 hours? Economy costs around £600, saving you £3,100 (x2 if there will be 2 of you) that you can spend on hotels, restaurants, shopping. Look at it this way, over £6000 free spending money when you buy 2 economy class tickets!
This is Pistonheads! God help anyone who admits to travelling cattle class*(I agree with you, for the sake of 7 hours each way in a smaller seat I'd rather have the extra spending money thanks!)
- Apart from whinging about being 'forced' to travel economy on business!
Edited by Silver993tt on Sunday 24th August 17:46
Silver993tt said:
V8mate said:
All this talk of recession and empty seats on planes got me thinking about taking my wife to New York for a bit of Christmas shopping around her birthday in early December.
Ran quotes with Virgin Upper Class and British Airways Business Class. The first came in at £3,730.80 and the latter ar £3,731 - a difference of 20p!
Part of me thinks that the two firms can't be colluding, as every time they have in the past Virgin blows the whistle on BA and drops them in it (somehow managing to get off without blame in spite of being part of the pact!)
But on the other hand, you do have to wonder how two supposedly competitive companies can possible come up with such a similar price on such an expensive product when there are so many areas, in this kind of service, to manage cost and value.
Any other products/services where you think something's wrong with the way the market is priced?
Why on earth would you spend that on a plane seat for 7 hours? Economy costs around £600, saving you £3,100 (x2 if there will be 2 of you) that you can spend on hotels, restaurants, shopping. Look at it this way, over £6000 free spending money when you buy 2 economy class tickets!Ran quotes with Virgin Upper Class and British Airways Business Class. The first came in at £3,730.80 and the latter ar £3,731 - a difference of 20p!
Part of me thinks that the two firms can't be colluding, as every time they have in the past Virgin blows the whistle on BA and drops them in it (somehow managing to get off without blame in spite of being part of the pact!)
But on the other hand, you do have to wonder how two supposedly competitive companies can possible come up with such a similar price on such an expensive product when there are so many areas, in this kind of service, to manage cost and value.
Any other products/services where you think something's wrong with the way the market is priced?
V8mate said:
Silver993tt said:
V8mate said:
All this talk of recession and empty seats on planes got me thinking about taking my wife to New York for a bit of Christmas shopping around her birthday in early December.
Ran quotes with Virgin Upper Class and British Airways Business Class. The first came in at £3,730.80 and the latter ar £3,731 - a difference of 20p!
Part of me thinks that the two firms can't be colluding, as every time they have in the past Virgin blows the whistle on BA and drops them in it (somehow managing to get off without blame in spite of being part of the pact!)
But on the other hand, you do have to wonder how two supposedly competitive companies can possible come up with such a similar price on such an expensive product when there are so many areas, in this kind of service, to manage cost and value.
Any other products/services where you think something's wrong with the way the market is priced?
Why on earth would you spend that on a plane seat for 7 hours? Economy costs around £600, saving you £3,100 (x2 if there will be 2 of you) that you can spend on hotels, restaurants, shopping. Look at it this way, over £6000 free spending money when you buy 2 economy class tickets!Ran quotes with Virgin Upper Class and British Airways Business Class. The first came in at £3,730.80 and the latter ar £3,731 - a difference of 20p!
Part of me thinks that the two firms can't be colluding, as every time they have in the past Virgin blows the whistle on BA and drops them in it (somehow managing to get off without blame in spite of being part of the pact!)
But on the other hand, you do have to wonder how two supposedly competitive companies can possible come up with such a similar price on such an expensive product when there are so many areas, in this kind of service, to manage cost and value.
Any other products/services where you think something's wrong with the way the market is priced?
Silver993tt said:
YZF600R said:
Silver993tt said:
Why on earth would you spend that on a plane seat for 7 hours? Economy costs around £600, saving you £3,100 (x2 if there will be 2 of you) that you can spend on hotels, restaurants, shopping. Look at it this way, over £6000 free spending money when you buy 2 economy class tickets!
This is Pistonheads! God help anyone who admits to travelling cattle class*(I agree with you, for the sake of 7 hours each way in a smaller seat I'd rather have the extra spending money thanks!)
- Apart from whinging about being 'forced' to travel economy on business!
Edited by Silver993tt on Sunday 24th August 17:46
V8mate said:
Silver993tt said:
YZF600R said:
Silver993tt said:
Why on earth would you spend that on a plane seat for 7 hours? Economy costs around £600, saving you £3,100 (x2 if there will be 2 of you) that you can spend on hotels, restaurants, shopping. Look at it this way, over £6000 free spending money when you buy 2 economy class tickets!
This is Pistonheads! God help anyone who admits to travelling cattle class*(I agree with you, for the sake of 7 hours each way in a smaller seat I'd rather have the extra spending money thanks!)
- Apart from whinging about being 'forced' to travel economy on business!
Edited by Silver993tt on Sunday 24th August 17:46
I thought it was quite disgusting and really couldn't see why people spent £6000-£7000 on these tickets. I run my own business and am pretty well off, easily able to pay for business/first but would never do it knowing the huge margins the airlines make from these seats without providing a equally linear improvement in service for the price compared to the normal economy seats.For that kind of money I would expect my own room with a proper bed (not fully reclining seat), ensuite shower/toilet etc and one to one service at the very minimum. The premium seats are the biggest rip-off going butthere are always enough mugs around to keep the airlines in business providing them
After all, no one expects 'flat bed' seats on trains when the journey time is more than 5 hours do they? If I were served the food in first/business in a restaurant (which provides a proper table etc), I would value it at around £15, plus a few glasses of wine/champagne, another £15 - totalling about £30. Well, when you pay £2000, £3000 or whatever, so what? The so called service costs comparitively nothing. You can't even include labour costs to have the food/wine served to you since the air crew are there anyway to attend to other mandatory functions such as safety, emergency procedures etc. Even these functions are only necessary at take off and landing. Therest of the time, the crew have basically nothing to do so they might as well serve the passengers.
Edited by Silver993tt on Sunday 24th August 18:13
V8mate said:
You're right, it doesn't necessarily make the best sense financially. But I'm tall and broad and hate people, so anything I can do to have more space to myself and less people - kids especially - around me is worth every penny. If I could afford to hire a private jet for the journey I'd be right there with my credit card at the ready.
Well how about the leftfield suggestion of going by ocean liner as in the QM2thinfourth2 said:
V8mate said:
You're right, it doesn't necessarily make the best sense financially. But I'm tall and broad and hate people, so anything I can do to have more space to myself and less people - kids especially - around me is worth every penny. If I could afford to hire a private jet for the journey I'd be right there with my credit card at the ready.
Well how about the leftfield suggestion of going by ocean liner as in the QM2V8mate said:
Silver993tt said:
YZF600R said:
Silver993tt said:
Why on earth would you spend that on a plane seat for 7 hours? Economy costs around £600, saving you £3,100 (x2 if there will be 2 of you) that you can spend on hotels, restaurants, shopping. Look at it this way, over £6000 free spending money when you buy 2 economy class tickets!
This is Pistonheads! God help anyone who admits to travelling cattle class*(I agree with you, for the sake of 7 hours each way in a smaller seat I'd rather have the extra spending money thanks!)
- Apart from whinging about being 'forced' to travel economy on business!
Edited by Silver993tt on Sunday 24th August 17:46
I am also going to New York for Christmas and happily (well maybe not happily) forked out for the big chairs, better food/wine, excellent lounge, bar in sky, showers/breakfast on Virgin.
Rubbish value but you're a long time dead.
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