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Posts: 6,248
Special Event fares to come down if seats don't sell?
Need to fly LHR to MUC on the 20th of February. No mileage availability and fares are 182 quid across the board. BA is higher than LH all day long. The fares on that day are substantially higher than surrounding dates (when there is copious mileage availability). Looks like there is a travel trade event starting in Munich that day. The difference in fares and mileage availability has me thinking that BA may have removed all inventory from lower lower buckets. Does BA in act do this when they know of special events in cities and if the flights don't full up should I expect to see fare decreases or will they just hold out? For what its worth (not much since there aren't free seat assignments), the seat maps are basically empty.
If no-one books at the high prices I'm sure they will eventually release some seats - BA want to make money, but they don't want empty aircraft on that day - but who knows whether that will actually happen?
Are you in a hurry that day? Plenty of alternative ways to get to MUC if price is more important than speed.
Fly to FRA (still loads of cheap fares to FRA on 20 Feb) then take the ICE train from Frankfurt Flughafen > Munich Hbf. The journey is ~3h30, and on that date there are still advance purchase fares from €49 standard/€59 first class. Deutsche Bahn's revenue management dept obviously haven't tweaked things in their system...
You'd save £107 on your flight but would then spend at least £40 extra on a train ticket plus an extra 2-3h travelling. Not sure I'd bother in this particular case, although the ICE trains are a nice way to travel...
Q: What's wrong with flying to MUC with LH?
Last edited by shorthauldad; Jan 11, 13 at 11:07 pm..
Does BA in act do this when they know of special events in cities and if the flights don't full up should I expect to see fare decreases or will they just hold out?
Revenue Management 101. Current pricing reflects expectations based on historical data. If reality turns out to be different they will probably (at some point) open up lower fare buckets and maybe even redemption buckets. Depends how demand matches expectations, over what time-scale and how long you can wait for this to happen. e.g. they may historically expect many last-minute bookings, or agencies may have group allocations that are not released back to BA until close to departure.
Current lowest open bucket is M, which is about 100 quid higher e/w than the lowest bucket (O).
Quote:
Originally Posted by sts603
For what its worth (not much since there aren't free seat assignments), the seat maps are basically empty.
Mmm (the thought had occurred to me!) ... well, if it's about getting to MUC on redemption, how about AB via DUS?
Code:
LON London Metro UK = LHR LGW STN LTN LCY QQS QQW ZLS ZEP XQE
MUC Munich Franz Josef Strauss DE [EDDM]
WED 20 Feb 2013
Carrier Flight From Depart To Arrive St Availability
--------- ------ ---- -------- ---- -------- --- -- ------------
BA 936 LHR 07:25 DUS 09:50 CS8 YS9
-> AB 6029 DUS 12:20 MUC 13:35 YS9
BA 938 LHR 09:10 DUS 11:30 CS9 YS9
-> AB 6029 DUS 12:20 MUC 13:35 YS9
BA 930 LHR 11:20 DUS 13:45 CS9 YS9
-> AB 6031 DUS 14:50 MUC 16:05 YS9
BA 940 LHR 13:10 DUS 15:30 CS9 YS9
-> AB 6037 DUS 17:00 MUC 18:15 YS7
BA 942 LHR 14:45 DUS 17:10 CS9 YS9
-> AB 6021 DUS 18:05 MUC 19:20 YS9
BA 942 LHR 14:45 DUS 17:10 CS9 YS9
-> AB 6039 DUS 18:50 MUC 20:05 YS9
BA 944 LHR 16:10 DUS 18:30 CS9 YS9
-> AB 6045 DUS 20:05 MUC 21:20 YS9
BA 944 LHR 16:10 DUS 18:30 CS9 YS9
-> AB 6041 DUS 21:00 MUC 22:15 YS9
BA 932 LHR 17:40 DUS 20:05 CS9 YS9
-> AB 6041 DUS 21:00 MUC 22:15 YS9
AB 8893 STN 07:25 DUS 09:40 YS9
-> AB 6027 DUS 10:20 MUC 11:35 YS9
AB 8893 STN 07:25 DUS 09:40 YS9
-> AB 6029 DUS 12:20 MUC 13:35 YS9
Last edited by shorthauldad; Jan 11, 13 at 11:07 pm..
If the OP is thinking of that, I would suggest reconsidering
AA miles on BA to Germany in economy is an absolutely dismal value given that BA's fares start at GBP19 with the rest made up of fare-disguised-as-tax plus taxes ; GBP19 value for 10,000 points
if looking at a paid ticket, I would just save the money and go LH
Is it not possible to quote availability from KVS without including advertising links
AA miles on BA to Germany in economy is an absolutely dismal value given that BA's fares start at GBP19 with the rest made up of fare-disguised-as-tax plus taxes ; GBP19 value for 10,000 points
AA.com was less than helpful when I tried to price e.g. DUS-MUC:
Code:
From:Dusseldorf International - DUS
To:Munich Franz Josef Strauss - MUC
Flight Date:Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Miles Used:10,000
Taxes and Carrier-Imposed Fees:
$2.50 to $700.00 USD per person per award
It is, as you point out, probably a poor use of miles even if there's no YQ!
Quote:
Is it not possible to quote availability from KVS without including advertising links
AA.com was less than helpful when I tried to price e.g. DUS-MUC:
Code:
From:Dusseldorf International - DUS
To:Munich Franz Josef Strauss - MUC
Flight Date:Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Miles Used:10,000
Taxes and Carrier-Imposed Fees:
$2.50 to $700.00 USD per person per award
It is, as you point out, probably a poor use of miles even if there's no YQ!
I am pretty sure that it is only BA/IB where YQ exists so going on a scenic tour via DUS is prob ok, but even so, I would suggest that the value of points usage for that given having to go via DUS is prob not great
I am pretty sure that it is only BA/IB where YQ exists so going on a scenic tour via DUS is prob ok, but even so, I would suggest that the value of points usage for that given having to go via DUS is prob not great
If I was desperate to use points I'd fly to FRA and take the train - at least that takes you straight to central Munich.
LON-DUS-MUC leaves you out in the sticks with a 45 minute S-bahn ride to the city, this is almost certainly slower.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sts603
Need to fly LHR to MUC on the 20th of February. No mileage availability and fares are 182 quid across the board. Looks like there is a travel trade event starting in Munich that day.
There will also be lots of Bayern fans returning from their game at Highbury the night previous.
__________________ I'm on ba97 - feel free to guest me, I'll behave myself!
Programs: AA EXP, US Silver, SPG Gold, National Emerald Club Executive Selection
Posts: 6,248
Thanks all. Seems like BA works like AA domestic in this regard - they'll zero out buckets around special events/peak times and then bring them down later if they don't fill to satisfaction.
Yes, the redemption value is lousy for miles at the normal fares (10K miles + taxes to save 182 quid would probably have been worth it should it have been available). In somewhat of a rush so the only alternative to BA is LH. At USD 50 per ticket savings (there are two of us), I'd rather fly BA for the seat assignment, Galleries F, and Fastrack.
So now the question is wait and hope or just suck it up and pay the 182 quid. I think I'll chance the former...
A micro-wurst and a spoonful of potato salad, more like Really.
Not always. I flew LHR-MUC with LH in Y not long ago, on a "breakfast-time" flight, and we were served a hot wrap which was actually a) fairly tasty, and b) fairly substantial.
Really.
