originally posted by straight-flava
Your timing is a bit off.
I think you've hit the nail on the head.
originally posted by lonman
... nobody's overbooked at this point.
When one looks at actual availability (in the late May to late June time frame) to almost all cities in Europe (except maybe LON), the cheapest inventory seats are virtually gone. Usually the cheapest seats to Europe are booked in W,V,N,T, or Q. When I look at these flights, what I'm seeing is zeroes for these COS... on almost all airlines - to almost all cities in Europe - from almost all cities in the US.
Furthermore, it doesn't seem to be 'just that simple'. Actually
the lowest 3 classes of service tend to be booked! This is particularly true of UA, LH, AZ, DL, UA, US and AA. When I price these itineraries, fares in the $ 1,000 - $ 1,300 range are not uncommon out of the Southwest/Westcoast. (Of course, actual availability will depend on travel dates).
Keep in mind that just because there is a low published fare...
or that some new sale fares may come along ... DOES NOT mean that there is a seat available at this fare.
originally posted by Law Lord:
Also considering how steeply Delta just slashed prices for advance-purchase business class tickets to Europe (see the DL board), more sales for cosch to Europe can't be far behind. The majors must believe that load factors are going to plummet.
You might be right here, however, based on my comments above, I'm not so sure. It would appear to me that because the
lowest 3 C0S tend to be booked, that the airlines might be doing OK on their revenue in the "cheap seats", but suffering in biz.
Therefore, unless the airlines "free up" some added inventory -
even if new sale fares do come along - getting a 'sale seat' in this time frame might still be a problem.
originally posted by yanatan:
Why not buy a good-priced flight to London with a cheap connection on Easyjet to Athens ex-Luton?
From my experience last year, unless one is planning a stopover in LON anyway, this can be a major hassle. Keep in mind that the RT train fare between LHR and LTN airports is not all that cheap - and so this needs to be factored in as well. Add to that the 'pain' of schlepping ones luggage between two airports. Also keep in mind that by the time one arrives in LON one is already suffering jet lag. Not my 'cup of tea' to 'suffer-save' $ 50 to $ 100 bucks,
maybe. Also, the available cheap seats on Easyjet often result in a misconnect with the pond portion on the return, resulting in an added expense for an overnite in LON.
BTW, while servicing ATH, Easyjet does not service FCO or MIL.
[This message has been edited by tvl4free (edited 04-08-2001).]