Originally Posted by flyphl
Is that true?! That is really amazing, even given the earliness of the season for Ireland. I would think that, to justify the prices US is charging the Europe this summer, the planes would have to be pretty full.
I looked for late summer to a couple of European destinations, and they all seem to be in the $900 range or higher. For a change, Air France, Lufthansa and British Air seemed to be cheaper generally, even $200 or more cheaper.
That posting was about 3 days ago. I am still looking for it, but whoever posted it can surely find it.
Here's a VERY similar one from yesterday (FRA-PHL):
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...48#post5791948
What US is now doing (and has been for a little over 2 months) is manipulating their supply/demand curve through VERY fluid disclosed and non-disclosed blackout dates and capacity controls. In so doing, because most flyers have not yet caught on to their deception (but the numbers who have are growing remarkably including 2 huge companies and 2 large companies) they have been able to create false and artificial price supports for their generally highest ticket price levels (despite their illusion as a "the world's largest low fare carrier"). When you combine purposeful deception and artificial price supports, with worsening service and increasing fares, they have a sadly as yet unknown-to-them recipe for disaster.
Nothing about what they do is now straightforward; it is all or mostly a growing illusion in motion. What they actually do is now actually the opposite of what they say they do. Allmost all of the other 8 major USA airlines have caught on and it appears that 2 European carriers have also caught on to this failure symptom at US. They are just now beginning the process of sticking a dagger into the US operation through very focused lower fares and generally much better service as you and many others have previously outlined in your pricing example.
Source: Fly alot and you cannot miss it.