Originally Posted by
yulred
My experience with LHR is that it's up a lot over the past 10 years (would you believe $500 r/t Y fares in spring 2007). That said, it is true that competitive pressure kicks in around that $1100-$1200 mark. The price on LHR at least is moderated to a degree by competition from one-stops.
However, if you think about it, that's still pretty high, seeing as DEL is going for around the same price these days. Despite this, pax flying to LHR will get HD.
I don't really know...was just cherry picking some data I pulled out of my @:-)
But I wouldn't be surprised if the face value of some of the most common routings haven't changed much in years (and would love to see some actual data if anyone has any). So for the airline to grow or maintain profits they need to:
1) Increase density
2) Charge for stuff that doesn't directly impact the advertised ticket price (e.g. bags, change fees etc.)
What'll be interesting to see is if there's any reversal of the trend. It's a cyclical industry. Right now they can pretty much do what they want and get away with it. At some point, industry fundamentals won't be as good as they are so they'll have to give up something. Unfortunately I don't think density will be given up...