BA Fares: Single costs MUCH more than Return

la_contrabandier

i agree pin, and telling customers that seats are not available in economy on flights when they are..is downright dishonest, how many unsuspecting travellers have paid £400 plus expecting the flight to be full and then discovered numeorus empty seats

there will always be a demand for "full service" frills, just dont try and con your average joe public into paying for it please BA

pin

Re the whole seats issue. Airlines will sell seats depending on various fare codes. For example there will be 6 odd fare codes in economy. Y is normally the most expensive (as it is fully flexible, etc) and for example N will be the cheapest because it the most restrictive.

What normally happens is that the airline will only have so many seats avaiable in the cheapest bracket and once these are sold, they are sold. The airline will then be left with the more expensive fare codes.

The closer you come to a flight date the validity on the cheap fare codes will have expired regardless of if they are sold or not. This means the airline is left with the more expensive "Y" type fare codes, which is what they sell.

I think that is correct, and hope it makes sense.

Lassie_2

You are right Pin. Once the cheaper codes have been sold, or close to the date of travel, the more expensive the seat. Return sectors can vary in price depending on whether there are cheaper codes still available on the flight back.

Something which hasn't been mentioned: schedule airlines have interline agreements with other airlines and those passengers who are through ticketed to their final destnation are regarded as having one contract regardless of how many airlines or sectors are involved. The inbound carrier has a responsibility (except due to weather) to connect you with your next flight or provide a reroute / welfare / hotel etc. There is an element of insurance within the price of a schedule ticket.

No frills airlines are point to point which means a series of separate contracts which only require them to delivery you to your destination but not within a specific time frame - so you could miss your onward connection and have to foot the bill yourself

You pay your money and make your choice!

WiseInvestor_2

la_contrabandier wrote:

telling customers that seats are not available in economy on flights when they are..is downright dishonest, how many unsuspecting travellers have paid £400 plus expecting the flight to be full and then discovered numeorus empty seats

Presumably part of the BA fare stategy is that 'fully flexible' passengers can turn up and fly whenever they choose. Full service airlines can't expect to fill every seat on every flight - sometimes their customers demand the flexibility. If BA agree to accept your £400, surely they run the risk of disappointing a [much] higher-fare passenger?

margaret_3

iainkirk wrote:

What happens if I don't take the return leg of a return flight?

BA currently want to sell me a single from Stornoway to Glasgow for £152.

However, booking the SAME flight from Stornoway as part of a return results in a TOTAL price for the return journey of £94, ie £47 each way.

Iain,
How do you get a cheap flight of £94? I have been doing searches and submitting various dates over a period of two months and can't get a fare as cheap as that. However, it might be that I want to travel FROM Glasgow. That might be dearer?
Margaret

alanrowell

margaret wrote:

Iain,
How do you get a cheap flight of £94? I have been doing searches and submitting various dates over a period of two months and can't get a fare as cheap as that. However, it might be that I want to travel FROM Glasgow. That might be dearer?
Margaret

I just went onto the BA website & it was easy to get a fare of £108.70 (24th May to 31st May) with the fares being £44 & £29 for the legs. That means taxes totally £35.70. If if the Stornaway leg can be got for £29 then that would reduce the total cost to about £94

alanrowell

For example, Tuesday 21st June @ 18:30, returning Tuesday 28th June @ 10:30 gives a total price of £93.70

chipotle_2

Hello everyone

I spent most of the las 2 weeks trying to get the cheapest one way London-Mexico City with BA for me and my 2 kids (as travel alone, best with BA as flight is direct and yes, service is very good). Champion site for my was travelocity.co.uk where i got them for just under 1,300£ much much cheaper than using BA's own site and many other search engines, opodo, flightcheckers etc. Do try Travelocity but use "I am flexible" option with a month range each side of the date you wanted and best of luck!

And with respect to other issues discussed, yes, I agree BA is expensive but also service is great for adults and families. Have travelled with others Iberia, AirFrance, nothing but nightmares.

Chipotle

withabix

Quite correct Alanrowell. £29 each way plus taxes gives you a £93.70 return, which is what I used half of when I flew back from Stornoway today.

I also get 500 BA Executive points per journey, ie 1000 points return.

I will have enough points eventually for a BA return flight to NY!!

margaret_3

iainkirk wrote:

Quite correct Alanrowell. £29 each way plus taxes gives you a £93.70 return, which is what I used half of when I flew back from Stornoway today.

I also get 500 BA Executive points per journey, ie 1000 points return.

I will have enough points eventually for a BA return flight to NY!!

Ah yes! But I note that one must stay a week to have that fare. It's ok if you are only using half the ticket, but if you want to stay just two or three days, the return portion is about £119. It's very expensive!
Margaret