Data point from me albeit on QR. I have flights from LAX to South Africa via DOH for May. The LAX flight has been canned and the original flight from DOH has been consolidated to a different flight. QR is offering a free change to fly later, so long as the origin and destination remain the same (for fees and fare difference). Unfortunately, I can’t take advantage of that as I booked the tickets last year and the new travel has to occur within 1 year of issue. There is an option for a voucher and recently they have upped the offer to 110% of the fare paid and that voucher is valid for a year from its date of issue.
I was looking at flights recently to South Africa for next Feb as a replacement holiday. Feb is still Summer over there, so I would expect there to be a premium, but it was only a few hundred dollars over what I paid for May. Fast forward a week and the announcement that QR would not offer refunds and only issue vouchers to preserve cash and now those flights are $2,400 more expensive than what I had paid. I can’t see me taking a voucher and locking myself into flying with QR knowing that I could be required to shell out 33% more than what I currently paid for the same route. Thankfully, a full refund for airline cancellations seems to be back on the table.
The same sudden price jump across multiple dates does seem to scream of let’s get some additional revenue out of all that voucher spend that we’re going to see over the next few months.