Airlines exploting monopoly?

henchard1

I live in Aberdeen but my fiancee and I are Irish citizens and plan to marry in Ireland in June. AerLingus are the only air carrier operating between Aberdeen and Dublin. We've just learned that the weekend of our wedding now coincides with a Scotland-Ireland sport fixture in Dublin, and Aer Lingus are already charging several hundred per cent more than normal levies between the two ports for 12-14 June: at time of writing, £270.99 for the outward journey, and for the return flight a simply incredible, eye-watering £357.99. We will be spending the week prior to our wedding in Ireland, but many Aberdeenshire-based friends who'd wanted to come to our celebration (and who have no interest whatsoever in sport) have, unsurprisingly, had to decline with regret when we broke the news. It is apparent that Aer Lingus are brazenly using their monopoly here to exploit the situation and to generate excess profits. I have looked elsewhere in Scotland, and all operators have raised prices for that weekend to a degree, but this is the worst. Aer Lingus have also shown themselves to be completely unaccountable by failure to provide clear customer services contacts or even a postal address (an email I managed to send to their group bookings hotline, of course, went unanswered). Is there anything at all that can be done? Being, obviously, a non-UK company, do they even fall within remit of CMA? They deserve to be sanctioned, somehow, for what looks like unfettered & unregulated greed.

tripled

Sadly, by it's very definition, unregulated greed is generally not illegal.

Have you looked at flights to Manchester (£73) and then rail-ferry to Dublin? Or, not ideal, but BA will take you to Dublin and back via Heathrow for a little over £200. Belfast returns can be had for just over £100 (train from there, or even hire a minibus out of the several hundred pounds pp saving!).

Have a play on Skyscanner http://www.skyscanner.net/

SW17

Welcome to MSE and congratulations on your upcoming nuptials.

Can understand your pain given the fact this impacts such a major life event, but since AFAIK there is nothing in legislation to stop other airlines from operating this route (subject to slots being available at airports), they are going to operate on a supply and demand basis. It's a monopoly through the choice of competitors, not a regulated monopoly which might attract fare regulation.

There are plenty of periods when the route is available at under £100 return and they may not be making a profit on a number of flights, so although frustrating, not sure how much they are doing wrong. If customers are willing to pay, they will sell, if not they will have to reduce price.

Maybe lower prices are available via EDI/GLA, though appreciate that is a lot less convenient for your guests.

richardw

Is it cheaper to get a Flybe to Belfast City and road transport from there?

Perhaps write to your MP suggesting capped fares between Scotland and Ireland and see if it'll get in their manifesto for the general election.

henchard1

Thanks to all except jpsartre - what an offensive post. Yes, I do know something know about business, thanks very much. Try living in Aberdeen and experiencing what amounts to a closed shop. Even allowing for market rates, the levy here, this far in advance, is truly spectacular.

callum9999

henchard1 wrote: »

Thanks to all except jpsartre - what an offensive post. Yes, I do know something know about business, thanks very much. Try living in Aberdeen and experiencing what amounts to a closed shop. Even allowing for market rates, the levy here, this far in advance, is truly spectacular.

While I agree it was unnecessarily rude, I think it's a good point they're making. If you become a regular here you'll quickly see it fills up with people ranting and raving about how awful businesses are and how everyone's trying to rip them off (when inevitably the person whinging messed everything up and is just moaning about having to accept the consequences), which makes their post a bit more understandable.

You're also not going to get any sympathy about Aberdeen airport being "a closed shop"! There's over a dozen operators and you can always get the train down to Edinburgh if you want more choice - no different to large parts of the rest of the country. You do have my sympathy for having to live in Aberdeen though - I couldn't do it!

malkie76

It could be a simple case that the cheapest tickets on the plane have already sold, leaving only the most expensive tickets. You'd find that on any route where a number of people buy tickets in advance - I doubt it's common to that route on that weekend only.

You are actually in a better position living in Aberdeen that you think (compared to other cities). The oil industry results in a far broader set of flights than many other similarly sized UK destinations. Have you looked to Easyjet to Luton, then Luton to Dublin? Or via Gatwick, or even via a european hub ?

If you have enough willing guests you should explore the private charter option - you'll probably need around 100 travelers to make the option financially viable.

Alteratively how about a coach to Edinburgh or Glasgow then fly or ferry ? Again as a package for a number of travelers it will work out as feasible.

Sorry to hear about this, but the airline are under no obligation to provide cheap flights on all flights on all routes at all times. There's no monopoly as anyone is free to start their own airline to compete and offer better prices.

henchard1

jpsartre wrote: »

But you are clearly not allowing for market rates. The levy is there because there are people willing to pay that price. If there aren't, you can be sure that the price will come down. You want to restrict a business by law just so you can fly to get married on the cheap. As I said, it's an incredible sense of entitlement.

Well, I've not seen an elevation this steep, this far in advance, in the six and a half years I've lived up here, jp. Your last two sentences here are incredibly rude and you've really no justification for writing that - it's not just any of my party who'd be put out by this kind of levy.

lazer

Flights from Aberdeen to Belfast - departing on the 12th June, returning on the 14th start for £110 return.


Aircoach or bus to Dublin is around £15 - £20 return.


OP - whereabouts in Ireland are you getting married, as you try Edinburgh to Cork for that weekend its £153.

henchard1

callum9999 wrote: »

While I agree it was unnecessarily rude, I think it's a good point they're making. If you become a regular here you'll quickly see it fills up with people ranting and raving about how awful businesses are and how everyone's trying to rip them off (when inevitably the person whinging messed everything up and is just moaning about having to accept the consequences), which makes their post a bit more understandable.

You're also not going to get any sympathy about Aberdeen airport being "a closed shop"! There's over a dozen operators and you can always get the train down to Edinburgh if you want more choice - no different to large parts of the rest of the country. You do have my sympathy for having to live in Aberdeen though - I couldn't do it!

Thanks Callum. Unfortunately, other flight paths (e.g. BA) are indirect and Central Belt (Glasgow/Edinburgh) entail 3-4 hours which might restrict some users on a tight timetable.

I went online to ascertain what the legal situation on this kind of practice might be from other consumers with experience. Thanks for all responses.

callum9999

henchard1 wrote: »

Thanks Callum. Unfortunately, other flight paths (e.g. BA) are indirect and Central Belt (Glasgow/Edinburgh) entail 3-4 hours which might restrict some users on a tight timetable.

I went online to ascertain what the legal situation on this kind of practice might be from other consumers with experience. Thanks for all responses.

No worries. I was just pointing out that you have options - many people have to travel long distances to get to a decent airport.

The legal situation is that they can charge whatever they like. Any EU airline can fly between Aberdeen and Dublin, so they don't have any unfair advantage. Likewise, there are many ways of getting from Aberdeen to Dublin (not as convenient I agree, but plausible and no doubt done by many people).

To rephrase what jpsarte said, this is a (relatively) free market so just like you have the freedom to choose how to run your life, companies have the freedom to choose how to run their business. People sometimes seem to forget that, and think the freedoms apply to them and not to businesses!