Originally Posted by
Eskimoboy
Doing my first EX-EU in mid/late December, OSL-BKK in CW. Planning on staying the night before in Oslo to try and take some of the risk out of disruption or connection problems.
Ideally I'd fly BA to Oslo there and back for my positioning flight but it's currently pricing at £150 per person while SAS is only £75. I guess I was wondering if anyone who does the Oslo leg frequently could advise me whether i should hold on for a while and wait to see if BA reduce their prices (I did see cheap prices in a previous sale but doesn't cover the 16th when i fly) or should I bite the bullet and book SAS?
FWIW, up to and including 15 December, LHR-OSL flights have availability down to O class (although not on all flights). From 16 December to 3 January inclusive, availability appears to be limited to M class and higher. This seems clearly to be a deliberately revenue/yield management decision. So I think that the technical basis of your question is really whether these "blackout" dates for the cheaper booking classes might get moved or lifted in time.
Are you sure that you're seeing a price of £150 for flying LHR-OSL on 16 December? I'm seeing prices in the £
250 region for both one-way and round-trip itineraries. One reason for asking is that if you might be able to save a significant amount by flying LHR-OSL on 15 December instead, that might possibly be worth doing even though you'd then have an extra night and day in Oslo (which you would turn into part of your holiday, of course).
Ideally, though, all of this should be lined up before you actually book the main ticket, rather than planning the trip in chunks, because you minimise the risk of unpleasant surprises that you might have been able to avoid if you'd planned the whole trip holistically (eg if you could have booked the long-haul for one day earlier). Nevertheless, I know that's a counsel of perfection because sometimes it just isn't possible to have absolutely everything in place at that time.