Emirates 'fare hold' - not that fair

ModernSlave

Just thought it may be worth sharing that Emirates fare hold can prove less than fair.

We looked up flights using their Features Fares tab online. It shows the destination, class, travel dates, price, and 'Offer Ends'. The offer on the flight we wanted ended in '1 day' - midnight the night we were looking.

We needed to get work holiday approval so I clicked the 'fare hold' and paid £40 to hold what I believed was a special price fare.

Hahaha, you can guess what happened the next day. I got work holiday approval, ran the search for the exact same flights and found them for £38.40 cheaper - under a new Featured Fares listing.

What I'm getting around to saying is just because they use the terms 'Offer ends' and 'Featured fares' or 'special' doesn't mean they aren't going to drop them further. ALL their fares come under this banner, and it's somewhat misleading IMO.

daytona0

That's the risk you take. If they don't flog enough seats then the price will likely go down. The price, at the time, was probably a "special price" in that they probably priced it higher to start with (and had no takers).

The most important thing is that you have contracted with them for X price. And I doubt that you'd pay more had the price gone up when you took advantage of the "fare hold" they offered

Quite why you checked after booking is beyond me. You have just got to ignore the price changes and pay the money owed. You must have been happy to pay the advertised price so what is the point in checking the price post-contract? No point! It would just do your nut in, that's all!

ARandomMiser

It seems the statement 'don't try to predict the market' is for more than just investing.
Annoying, but sadly that is the way it is.

ModernSlave

daytona0 wrote: »

That's the risk you take. If they don't flog enough seats then the price will likely go down. The price, at the time, was probably a "special price" in that they probably priced it higher to start with (and had no takers).

The most important thing is that you have contracted with them for X price. And I doubt that you'd pay more had the price gone up when you took advantage of the "fare hold" they offered

Quite why you checked after booking is beyond me. You have just got to ignore the price changes and pay the money owed. You must have been happy to pay the advertised price so what is the point in checking the price post-contract? No point! It would just do your nut in, that's all!

Haha I checked because I'm a curious person! Maybe it would have increased and I would have felt wise and good? :rotfl:

I guess what I've learned on MSE is that if you just accept the first price without shopping around you won't get the best deal? Maybe I should learn not to be curious, not to double check. Either way, I did, and my nut is still whole

I thought it was an interesting anecdote and something that other flight shoppers may want to know.

takman

I bet what happens is that at the date the offer ends if they have sold over a certain percentage of the flight the price will go up, because they can guarantee that those last few seats will be bought by people who need the flight late so will pay more. But in your case they hadn't sold the percentage they wanted so the price decreased to encourage more sales.

Poppy9

daytona0 wrote: »

Quite why you checked after booking is beyond me. You have just got to ignore the price changes and pay the money owed. You must have been happy to pay the advertised price so what is the point in checking the price post-contract? No point! It would just do your nut in, that's all!

There is every point in checking the price of flights, or anything you commit to buy after you have bought it as it will inform future purchases. E.g the OP will now think twice of paying a deposit for a "special price" as it could go lower.

I do agree though that you have to take it on the chin if you were happy with the price you were paying before the drop.

I booked Virgin flights a few years ago at £888 for 3 of use to Orlando. I was very happy with the price. A few days later they were just under £850 for the same flights. I was okay with this as my target price when I started searching was under £1000. I still kept checking prices and a week after booking they were £1200. Finally happy I had a good deal I stopped looking:D

I will check prices after any major purchase to see if my buying tactics got me a good price. I will return goods purchased on line within allowed period if they go on sale after I've bought them. I've converted a friend who is always skint but casual with money to this and she save £80 on a dress that was 1/2 price within days of her buying it.