Is this an airline rip-off, or just my paranoia?

Conrad

We booked flights to Turkey (!!) yesterday, as soon as Easyjey released them. As we are holidaying with friends we had already booked accommodation so have to be sure we arrive on the day the accommodation is available.


THE ISSUE> Easyjet released only 1 flight from Gatwick, one from Stansted for this day As we watched the screen the already HUGE price (£1600 for my family of 4) increased by the minute. Our friend made one tiny error in booking and this resulted in her having to re-input details by which time the price increased another £60.


Now we are fairly sure they will release many more flights on this same day over the coming months (last yr several flights were on this same day) but us and our friends cannot be complacent and just had to book yesterday or risk not arriving on the day we want. Sure we could sweat it out, but we cannot take that risk.




Is this a deliberate rationing, whereby they slowly release flights one at a time over months knowing this deliberate restriction causes a stampede effect?

Capitalism yet again profiteering?
Do the other carriers do this? If so is this not yet another cartel operating against the public?




OR>> is this rationing perhaps a reflection of Easyjet not being sure how troubles on Turkeys border might effect demand going forward?

Cyberman60

There are other airlines that fly to Turkey so it's hardly a cartel. Perhaps Easyjet are holding back on flights due to the current instability in Turkey.

andrewf75

Where abouts in Turkey? If its somewhere mainstream couldn't you use another airline? £400 is certainly a bit steep for easyjet!

From what I've seen budget airline prices start high when they are released, then go low and then high again a few days before.

jamie11

This happens a lot, it's a result of you going to look elsewhere then coming back to their site and looking again, the cookies tell them you're going to buy.

To get round it, clear all your cookies and then go in and book immediately, you will get the old price.

onlyroz

With anything holiday-related they tend to drip-feed into the market. E.g. if you're looking for a 4* hotel in Crete you'll find a nice resort - but when you go to book 6-months in advance it'll say something like "hurry hurry only 3 rooms left". But if you try again a month later there will mysteriously be more rooms available.

balletshoes

yes lots of holiday-related flight companies, hotel booking companies etc do this. If you are at all flexible with which airport you can fly to a Turkish resort airport from in the UK, you can pretty much pick and choose between carriers/airports/times of flights. Gatwick will have quite a few carriers to choose from I'd expect, all going to the same Turkish airport you have booked for.

Conrad

Cyberman60 wrote: »

There are other airlines that fly to Turkey so it's hardly a cartel. Perhaps Easyjet are holding back on flights due to the current instability in Turkey.

My point was do the others also indulge in this slow releasing of flights in order to keep punters hungry and willing to pay more for scare resources? Obviously this might not apply to some destinations though.


Why don't the airlines release most or all the flights that will apply to that day now?

Conrad

andrewf75 wrote: »

Where abouts in Turkey? If its somewhere mainstream couldn't you use another airline? £400 is certainly a bit steep for easyjet!

.

We need to arrive on a Saturday to Dalaman airport, I understand easy jet at the moment are the only option. Horrendous flight time as well.


We are in the SE so has to be Gatwick or Stansted - it's (effectively) a whole days travel as it is (3 hour drive in Turkey) so last thing we want is another big drive to a far away UK airport.

callum9999

jamie11 wrote: »

This happens a lot, it's a result of you going to look elsewhere then coming back to their site and looking again, the cookies tell them you're going to buy.

To get round it, clear all your cookies and then go in and book immediately, you will get the old price.

People constantly claim it's cookies but the airlines generally deny it and not a single person (to my knowledge) has ever managed to demonstrate it.

The most likely explanation for this scenario was they were booking the last seats available in that price bucket, then when they left the booking and started again the seats were being reserved waiting for the original booking to finish (if they didn't you could go right through the booking process then be told the price has gone up if someone was booking at the same time) so they had to buy the next one up. If they waited a few minutes they probably would have gotten the original price.

And to answer the original question, no airlines don't ration flights to increase prices. As you've already been told they just aren't sure about how many flights they'll need next year, what with the country being on the verge of war. Where are you flying to anyway? I find it hard to believe easy jet is the only option.

littlereddevil

Don't annoy yourself by looking again as they will be much cheaper than that for sure

lea2012

Conrad wrote: »

We need to arrive on a Saturday to Dalaman airport, I understand easy jet at the moment are the only option. Horrendous flight time as well.


We are in the SE so has to be Gatwick or Stansted - it's (effectively) a whole days travel as it is (3 hour drive in Turkey) so last thing we want is another big drive to a far away UK airport.

Monarch and Thomas Cook also flying from gatwick on a saturday.

It's often the case that they drip feed flights and put more on if they are needed, rather than put all the flights on at once and then have half empty plates going out.