The Great British Airways Rip-off

markmat

spookmeister wrote:

The full price for all flights is £300 cheaper departing from Amsterdam.

If you think that's bad go back and take a look at the price difference if you book in business class

Cardew

WiseInvestor wrote:

With the UK being one of Europe's smallest countries, .

Smallest? we are equal second in population with France according to EEC.
Germany has most.

On this subject I was checking earlier and American Airlines will fly me from Frankfurt(and other European cities) to several cities in the USA a couple of hundred pounds cheaper than from London to those same cities in the USA. Also, as you would have guessed, many of those flights are via London.

It is an undeniable fact that any commercial organisation will charge what the market will bear. BA and Virgin are culpable in that they 'set the scene' and other airlines have climbed on the bandwagon. Thus Transatlantic fares from UK are more expensive, with all carriers, than from most countries in Europe.

It is not different to the situation we had(and still have to a lesser extent) with cars. Rover and other British manufacturers charged far higher pre-tax prices for cars in UK than they did for their export markets. Foreign manufacturers climbed on that bandwagon as well.

Rip-off Britain is alive and well I am afraid.

pin

Sometimes I get really annoyed at people keeping on calling Britain such a rip-off. The UK is without doubt one of the most competitive markets in Europe, probably the world for air travel. London is one of, if not THE major air hub in the world. As a result it has the most competitive prices and one of the widest choices of destinations you can find.

You can get some of the most amazing bargains for flying with both budget airlines AND scheduled airlines like BA and Virgin. The UK is NOT the most expensive place to go transatlantic. You can often go transatlantic for under £200 with both BA AND Virgin (and BMI), I actually flew three weeks ago to Toronto for £200 with BA. Tell me where you can find a cheaper price than that in Europe. Also both BA and Virgin offer excellent service, especially better than Air France and Alitalia.

It seems people are just annoyed they cannot get the price they want to when they travel. Also if you are so annoyed with going with BA, no-one is stopping you flying with another carrier via Europe.

Murtle

What's the betting that all the Europeans are complaining cause they have to fly via the UK....I know I prefer to fly direct at an additional cost, it's not rip-off Britain, I can fly from the UK via France to Mauritius for less then I can fly direct from the UK to Mauritius....Guess why.....that's right....it's a pain having to change flight catch the next one....and wait in the airport when the plane is delayed and you miss the one out to Mauritius.....

student100

Marketing reasons aside, you have to question the environmental soundness of this absurd pricing. It's no secret how much pollution etc. is caused by airliners flying all over the place. If therefore seems very stupid and illogical indeed that it can be cheaper for a British resident to fly to Amsterdam from London to fly from Amsterdam back to London then on to New York or whatever. It is completely nonsensical and a huge waste of resources...

I think airlines should be forced to minimise the enormous environmental impact of their business before they try to increase profitability with price discrimination.

Cardew

Pin/Myrtle
Of course it is a rip-off when a trip on a USA airline from Frankfurt – London – USA – London – Frankfurt, is £000s cheaper than London – USA – London. Both transatlantic trips are on exactly the same aircraft, same dates and same timings.
Obviously I would also prefer to fly direct to the USA.(and of course do) However why cannot I book that return flight from Frankfurt and board and dis-embark in London? Or simply have the same price for the shorter London-USA trip?

Why? simply to protect the excessive fare structure on transatlantic flights from UK that a cartel of carriers have imposed; led by BA and Virgin.

You can repeat that exercise for a multitude of carriers – including BA - from a multitude of cities in Europe. The flyer forums are full of examples of these flights.

How on earth can UK be called competitive when such practices are commonplace?

nelly_2

Any one who thinks its not a complete rip here is mental.

Go on expedia and check out any flight from manchester to the US, all the cheapest ones go to paris 1st or amsterdam, then on the america.

Thats 2 extra planes (there and back) and you initially flying in the complete oposite direction, making for a longer flight which means more fuel.

Question; How the hell can it be cheaper to get on 2 extra planes and fly further?

Answer; were getting stung!

Cardew

A further point.

I resent the implication that stating Britain is Rip-off territory is somehow unpatriotic.

To point out that the British pay far higher pre-tax prices for most goods and services hardly justifies such an accusation.

That accusation could be more reasonably levelled at BA, Rover and other major British companies who have overcharged the British public for years. Little wonder that foreign companies take advantage of the huge profits available in this country.

student100

pin wrote:

Sometimes I get really annoyed at people keeping on calling Britain such a rip-off. The UK is without doubt one of the most competitive markets in Europe, probably the world for air travel. London is one of, if not THE major air hub in the world. As a result it has the most competitive prices and one of the widest choices of destinations you can find.

You can get some of the most amazing bargains for flying with both budget airlines AND scheduled airlines like BA and Virgin.

Maybe...

pin wrote:

The UK is NOT the most expensive place to go transatlantic. You can often go transatlantic for under £200 with both BA AND Virgin (and BMI), I actually flew three weeks ago to Toronto for £200 with BA. Tell me where you can find a cheaper price than that in Europe.

...but just because you once got a cheap flight does not mean that, in general, British flight prices aren't rip-offs.

pin wrote:

Also both BA and Virgin offer excellent service, especially better than Air France and Alitalia.

That's a matter of opinion, and it's secondary to the argument. The problem is that flying transatlantic from London is more expensive than flying transatlantic on the exact same plane (with exact same service) but also including a connecting flight from elsewhere in Europe.

pin wrote:

It seems people are just annoyed they cannot get the price they want to when they travel. Also if you are so annoyed with going with BA, no-one is stopping you flying with another carrier via Europe.

Nobody is stopping us (unless you care about the environment and want to minimise the impact of your transatlantic travel). But that doesn't make it any less absurd that it's cheaper to fly Paris-London-New York than London-New York on the same transatlantic flight.

mystic_trev

I wish people would stop bloody moaning about BA - They're not a charity! Try using some common sense and shop around for the cheapest flights. I've used Ryanair and Easyjet over a dozen times in the last year, but I also used BA to fly to Croatia two weeks ago for £108 INC Taxes! Thre are plenty of cheap deals around, please use some common sense!