I am traveling to Colombo in September or October and would like to fly with QR, partly because of a status extension.

Now I have checked various dates and the return-prices (at least here from Germany) are € 4000 - € 5000. They used to be about € 2500 in the past. This obviously has nothing to do with inflation or cost of fuel but is a simple attempt to push revenues and profit drastically. I could buy two tickets with LH-Group and AF/KLM for that amount. What a change!

My questions:
1. Do you have ideas how to find lower fares e.g. by starting from another country in Europe? Any other suggestions are very welcome.

2. How do you think these prices will change over the next 12-18 months? I think that a great many former QR customers can no longer afford or want this luxury and that other airlines are pushing more capacity into the market, which should lead to more realistic prices. I am not sure about load factors - I have the ability to check how many seats have been occupied on certain flights. Spot checks from Europe show a mixed picture: Some planes are full others have just a few business class guests booked.