Easyjet price gouging?

emzshea

I'm planning a small wedding in Italy in September this year and my family and friends have been booking flights to Bologna. My family of 9 booked Easyjet flights in January and since their booking the price of those flights have wildly increased. My family paid under £200 each, now the flights are nearly £500 each. I've checked the flight and it's basically empty except my family in a block of 9 seats. Did our booking cause a surge in pricing and will the price likely decrease?

I still have other friends who want to book that flight but don't want to pay over the odds... there are flights to the USA that are cheaper!

Any advice?

Caz3121

emzshea said:

I've checked the flight and it's basically empty except my family in a block of 9 seats. Did our booking cause a surge in pricing and will the price likely decrease?

If you are using the seat map as an indicator this is not related to tickets sold as many people do not pay to select seats in advance.
High price may indicate few remaining seats although important to understand that when booking for multiple people all will be in same fare class so may be worth looking at price for one passenger.
which leg is high cost, does it link to any events or school holiday dates? 

Westin

It’s not ‘price gouging’.

Firstly, Caz explains that the seat map is not an indication to how busy the flight is. This could be a busier flight than you think.

Another issue might be how you are trying to book. Rather than try to book large groups as one, have people book themselves in smaller numbers. The pricing model is such that seats are slips into ‘buckets’. Each bucket with XX seats at a price. If there are not enough seats in that bucket for your enquiry the next bucket up is used for all in the booking enquiry. This repeats again until enough seats in one bucket are found, often at a higher price.  

E.g.

1 x seat at £39.99
4 x seats at £49.99
4 x seats at £79.99
8 x seats at £89.99
8 x seats at £99.99
8 x seats at £109.00
20 x seats at £139.99

When you search for 9 seats together it won’t be until a higher fare bucket (£139.99) that availability can be met.  Try again for one or two people.

Also, if you have been playing on the system and taking large numbers of seats, but not finalising the sale, this can upset the algorithm for a while.  Clear cookies and return in a few hours.

 

emzshea

Caz3121 said:

emzshea said:

I've checked the flight and it's basically empty except my family in a block of 9 seats. Did our booking cause a surge in pricing and will the price likely decrease?

If you are using the seat map as an indicator this is not related to tickets sold as many people do not pay to select seats in advance.
High price may indicate few remaining seats although important to understand that when booking for multiple people all will be in same fare class so may be worth looking at price for one passenger.
which leg is high cost, does it link to any events or school holiday dates? 

So we booked the 9 seats in Jan and since then the price for those dates have increased at least 5 times. I have an alert set up for skyscanner and AirHints. I've only been checking for one person so I know it's not because I'm trying to group book. And it's the return flight on the Sunday coming up as Triple the cost of all flights around it. Its not school holidays and nothing special about the date... its very odd.

emzshea

Westin said:

It’s not ‘price gouging’.

Firstly, Caz explains that the seat map is not an indication to how busy the flight is. This could be a busier flight than you think.

Another issue might be how you are trying to book. Rather than try to book large groups as one, have people book themselves in smaller numbers. The pricing model is such that seats are slips into ‘buckets’. Each bucket with XX seats at a price. If there are not enough seats in that bucket for your enquiry the next bucket up is used for all in the booking enquiry. This repeats again until enough seats in one bucket are found, often at a higher price.  

E.g.

1 x seat at £39.99
4 x seats at £49.99
4 x seats at £79.99
8 x seats at £89.99
8 x seats at £99.99
8 x seats at £109.00
20 x seats at £139.99

When you search for 9 seats together it won’t be until a higher fare bucket (£139.99) that availability can be met.  Try again for one or two people.

Also, if you have been playing on the system and taking large numbers of seats, but not finalising the sale, this can upset the algorithm for a while.  Clear cookies and return in a few hours.

 

Thanks for this info but I've only been looking for one person when I check. Also the price has increased numerous times since Jan as I have a price alert set up. The return flight on the Sunday is triple the price of the Saturday or Monday flights around it. The return flight on Sunday is 391.49. The Saturday return is 91.49 and the Monday is 98.99.

Granted I can't tell how busy the flight is from the current seat plan as people don't always book seats but the seating plan hasn't changed at all since we booked... am I to believe multiple people all booked this flight and chose not to opt for seats?

Westin

Would it be better to perhaps extend by a day and fly back on Monday?  I guess a Sunday PM return will always be a popular choice for those on a weekend break.

Have you looked at other airlines?

Westin

Guessing this might be 10th September?

BA have an evening flight back into LHR/Heathrow which is cheaper at £145/e162.   BLQ 1940/LHR 2055.

There is also Ryanair into STN/Stansted.

emzshea

Westin said:

Guessing this might be 10th September?

BA have an evening flight back into LHR/Heathrow which is cheaper at £145/e162.   BLQ 1940/LHR 2055.

There is also Ryanair into STN/Stansted.

Yes that is the flight. Those are other options but people are all travelling together car wise in Italy and those LHR flights are much much later in the day so if we had people on both flights, one group of people will need to hang around for 6-7 hours. I mean they'll book those flights if they have to but I was hoping the easyjet ones would come down in price to something more reasonable. We can't change the dates either because of work commitments.

Those super expensive easyjet flights just make no sense... its months before the actual flight, no one seems to have booked and although Sunday returns are kind of "peak" why are they triple the price they were back in Jan?

bagand96

emzshea said:

Westin said:

Guessing this might be 10th September?

BA have an evening flight back into LHR/Heathrow which is cheaper at £145/e162.   BLQ 1940/LHR 2055.

There is also Ryanair into STN/Stansted.

Yes that is the flight. Those are other options but people are all travelling together car wise in Italy and those LHR flights are much much later in the day so if we had people on both flights, one group of people will need to hang around for 6-7 hours. I mean they'll book those flights if they have to but I was hoping the easyjet ones would come down in price to something more reasonable. We can't change the dates either because of work commitments.

Those super expensive easyjet flights just make no sense... its months before the actual flight, no one seems to have booked and although Sunday returns are kind of "peak" why are they triple the price they were back in Jan?

Bologna - London Gatwick

Sat 02/09 €341.49
Sun 03/09 €295.49
Sat 09/09 €91.49
Sun 10/09 €391.49
Sat 16/09 €107.49
Sun 17/09 €126.49
Sat 23/09 €53.49
Sun 24/09 €323.49
Sat 30/09 €45.99
Sun 01/10 €323.49

There is some variation in the prices across the month but it's not just the flight you want that's at high prices. Every week had mid-week flights for under €50.  You say no one has booked, but you have no way of knowing this only easyJet know that.  Airline revenue management systems are very complicated and will move prices based on many factors including existing bookings, demand, searches etc

To suggest easyJet is price gouging somehow would suggest that easyJet have seen your group booking and somehow know you have more people wanting to book and have adjusted the price accordingly?

tightauldgit

bagand96 said:

emzshea said:

Westin said:

Guessing this might be 10th September?

BA have an evening flight back into LHR/Heathrow which is cheaper at £145/e162.   BLQ 1940/LHR 2055.

There is also Ryanair into STN/Stansted.

Yes that is the flight. Those are other options but people are all travelling together car wise in Italy and those LHR flights are much much later in the day so if we had people on both flights, one group of people will need to hang around for 6-7 hours. I mean they'll book those flights if they have to but I was hoping the easyjet ones would come down in price to something more reasonable. We can't change the dates either because of work commitments.

Those super expensive easyjet flights just make no sense... its months before the actual flight, no one seems to have booked and although Sunday returns are kind of "peak" why are they triple the price they were back in Jan?

Bologna - London Gatwick

Sat 02/09 €341.49
Sun 03/09 €295.49
Sat 09/09 €91.49
Sun 10/09 €391.49
Sat 16/09 €107.49
Sun 17/09 €126.49
Sat 23/09 €53.49
Sun 24/09 €323.49
Sat 30/09 €45.99
Sun 01/10 €323.49

There is some variation in the prices across the month but it's not just the flight you want that's at high prices. Every week had mid-week flights for under €50.  You say no one has booked, but you have no way of knowing this only easyJet know that.  Airline revenue management systems are very complicated and will move prices based on many factors including existing bookings, demand, searches etc

To suggest easyJet is price gouging somehow would suggest that easyJet have seen your group booking and somehow know you have more people wanting to book and have adjusted the price accordingly?

Which even if they had wouldn't really be price gouging. Just the normal dynamic pricing in operation. Once you tie yourself into a specific airport on a specific day you're always really at the mercy of the pricing algorithms 

emzshea

tightauldgit said:

bagand96 said:

emzshea said:

Westin said:

Guessing this might be 10th September?

BA have an evening flight back into LHR/Heathrow which is cheaper at £145/e162.   BLQ 1940/LHR 2055.

There is also Ryanair into STN/Stansted.

Yes that is the flight. Those are other options but people are all travelling together car wise in Italy and those LHR flights are much much later in the day so if we had people on both flights, one group of people will need to hang around for 6-7 hours. I mean they'll book those flights if they have to but I was hoping the easyjet ones would come down in price to something more reasonable. We can't change the dates either because of work commitments.

Those super expensive easyjet flights just make no sense... its months before the actual flight, no one seems to have booked and although Sunday returns are kind of "peak" why are they triple the price they were back in Jan?

Bologna - London Gatwick

Sat 02/09 €341.49
Sun 03/09 €295.49
Sat 09/09 €91.49
Sun 10/09 €391.49
Sat 16/09 €107.49
Sun 17/09 €126.49
Sat 23/09 €53.49
Sun 24/09 €323.49
Sat 30/09 €45.99
Sun 01/10 €323.49

There is some variation in the prices across the month but it's not just the flight you want that's at high prices. Every week had mid-week flights for under €50.  You say no one has booked, but you have no way of knowing this only easyJet know that.  Airline revenue management systems are very complicated and will move prices based on many factors including existing bookings, demand, searches etc

To suggest easyJet is price gouging somehow would suggest that easyJet have seen your group booking and somehow know you have more people wanting to book and have adjusted the price accordingly?

Which even if they had wouldn't really be price gouging. Just the normal dynamic pricing in operation. Once you tie yourself into a specific airport on a specific day you're always really at the mercy of the pricing algorithms 

Thank you for doing all this analysis! It's helpful to see it's not just my Sunday that's at a wildly inflated price. I'm not really accusing them of actual price gouging, just couldn't think of what else to put for the forum title! I just need to decide on whether or not to wait for a price drop or book the cheaper BA flights with the mega long wait... and given your data I think its BA so thanks!