AC 15% off Economy worldwide one-day only 13Aug19
Aug 13, 2019, 10:28 pm
#16
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: YYC
Programs: AC SE MM
Posts: 605
I was watching a set of P fares to Europe trying to make up my mind on dates. I saw the inventory begin to dwindle over a few hours. It seems large swaths of the inventory got marked P=0, and many of the non-RESTRICTED fares were disabled. For PE, I see a lot of new E=0 (the lowest PE fare bucket). I was not watching any economy buckets in last few days, so don't have a picture of what happened there. For instance P fares to Italy are suddenly selling only RESTRICTED P, the ones with "X" in their name, rather than 14 day advance "excursion", which don't seem to price out. Those are P fares, but they are on the expensive side (without any real benefit to the customer, I'll add, not even a reduced change fee).
I suppose the argument would be that AC can decide their pricing structure. Second argument would be this fare and bucket change is totally independent of the sale, oh no, that's a different division who did that, we didn't know!
But anyways a sale is called, and many people unwittingly buy a higher bucket. The 10% or 15% discount against base fare, combined with the higher bucket and fare selection, ends up costing more. It doesn't cost more on all fares or routes, some people believe they got deals. And maybe a few routes don't get the bucket and fare reduction. To be convincing, some people must feel they won.
Then maybe it looks like a normal "the market is working as intended" buyer-beware incident.
All of this is my guess.
Aug 13, 2019, 10:36 pm
#17
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Canada
Programs: AC E50k, A3*G, UA*S, MR Titanium, HHonors Gold, Carlson Gold, NEXUS
Posts: 3,669
I doubt it is that simple.
I was watching a set of P fares to Europe trying to make up my mind on dates. I saw the inventory begin to dwindle over a few hours. It seems large swaths of the inventory got marked P=0, and many of the non-RESTRICTED fares were disabled. For PE, I see a lot of new E=0 (the lowest PE fare bucket). I was not watching any economy buckets in last few days, so don't have a picture of what happened there. For instance P fares to Italy are suddenly selling only RESTRICTED P, the ones with "X" in their name, rather than 14 day advance "excursion", which don't seem to price out. Those are P fares, but they are on the expensive side (without any real benefit to the customer, I'll add, not even a reduced change fee).
I suppose the argument would be that AC can decide their pricing structure. Second argument would be this fare and bucket change is totally independent of the sale, oh no, that's a different division who did that, we didn't know!
But anyways a sale is called, and many people unwittingly buy a higher bucket. The 10% or 15% discount against base fare, combined with the higher bucket and fare selection, ends up costing more. It doesn't cost more on all fares or routes, some people believe they got deals. And maybe a few routes don't get the bucket and fare reduction. To be convincing, some people must feel they won.
Then maybe it looks like a normal "the market is working as intended" buyer-beware incident.
All of this is my guess.
I was watching a set of P fares to Europe trying to make up my mind on dates. I saw the inventory begin to dwindle over a few hours. It seems large swaths of the inventory got marked P=0, and many of the non-RESTRICTED fares were disabled. For PE, I see a lot of new E=0 (the lowest PE fare bucket). I was not watching any economy buckets in last few days, so don't have a picture of what happened there. For instance P fares to Italy are suddenly selling only RESTRICTED P, the ones with "X" in their name, rather than 14 day advance "excursion", which don't seem to price out. Those are P fares, but they are on the expensive side (without any real benefit to the customer, I'll add, not even a reduced change fee).
I suppose the argument would be that AC can decide their pricing structure. Second argument would be this fare and bucket change is totally independent of the sale, oh no, that's a different division who did that, we didn't know!
But anyways a sale is called, and many people unwittingly buy a higher bucket. The 10% or 15% discount against base fare, combined with the higher bucket and fare selection, ends up costing more. It doesn't cost more on all fares or routes, some people believe they got deals. And maybe a few routes don't get the bucket and fare reduction. To be convincing, some people must feel they won.
Then maybe it looks like a normal "the market is working as intended" buyer-beware incident.
All of this is my guess.
Aug 14, 2019, 12:35 pm
#18
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: YQB
Programs: AC SE
Posts: 2,139
I doubt it is that simple.
I was watching a set of P fares to Europe trying to make up my mind on dates. I saw the inventory begin to dwindle over a few hours. It seems large swaths of the inventory got marked P=0, and many of the non-RESTRICTED fares were disabled. For PE, I see a lot of new E=0 (the lowest PE fare bucket). I was not watching any economy buckets in last few days, so don't have a picture of what happened there. For instance P fares to Italy are suddenly selling only RESTRICTED P, the ones with "X" in their name, rather than 14 day advance "excursion", which don't seem to price out. Those are P fares, but they are on the expensive side (without any real benefit to the customer, I'll add, not even a reduced change fee).
I suppose the argument would be that AC can decide their pricing structure. Second argument would be this fare and bucket change is totally independent of the sale, oh no, that's a different division who did that, we didn't know!
But anyways a sale is called, and many people unwittingly buy a higher bucket. The 10% or 15% discount against base fare, combined with the higher bucket and fare selection, ends up costing more. It doesn't cost more on all fares or routes, some people believe they got deals. And maybe a few routes don't get the bucket and fare reduction. To be convincing, some people must feel they won.
Then maybe it looks like a normal "the market is working as intended" buyer-beware incident.
All of this is my guess.
I was watching a set of P fares to Europe trying to make up my mind on dates. I saw the inventory begin to dwindle over a few hours. It seems large swaths of the inventory got marked P=0, and many of the non-RESTRICTED fares were disabled. For PE, I see a lot of new E=0 (the lowest PE fare bucket). I was not watching any economy buckets in last few days, so don't have a picture of what happened there. For instance P fares to Italy are suddenly selling only RESTRICTED P, the ones with "X" in their name, rather than 14 day advance "excursion", which don't seem to price out. Those are P fares, but they are on the expensive side (without any real benefit to the customer, I'll add, not even a reduced change fee).
I suppose the argument would be that AC can decide their pricing structure. Second argument would be this fare and bucket change is totally independent of the sale, oh no, that's a different division who did that, we didn't know!
But anyways a sale is called, and many people unwittingly buy a higher bucket. The 10% or 15% discount against base fare, combined with the higher bucket and fare selection, ends up costing more. It doesn't cost more on all fares or routes, some people believe they got deals. And maybe a few routes don't get the bucket and fare reduction. To be convincing, some people must feel they won.
Then maybe it looks like a normal "the market is working as intended" buyer-beware incident.
All of this is my guess.
I don't "believe I got a deal", I know I got one and am happy with it.
Aug 14, 2019, 2:00 pm
#19
Join Date: Feb 2006
Programs: AC75 MM
Posts: 959
With the comments and guesses about AC manipulating fares during sales, I decided to go back on AC.com and have a look at the fares today to compare them with yesterday's fare. Base fare was exactly the same. I redid the math and I did save 10% off the base fare for my PY outbound and 15% off my base faire for my Flex return.
I don't "believe I got a deal", I know I got one and am happy with it.
I don't "believe I got a deal", I know I got one and am happy with it.
Aug 14, 2019, 2:06 pm
#20
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 492
With the comments and guesses about AC manipulating fares during sales, I decided to go back on AC.com and have a look at the fares today to compare them with yesterday's fare. Base fare was exactly the same. I redid the math and I did save 10% off the base fare for my PY outbound and 15% off my base faire for my Flex return.
I don't "believe I got a deal", I know I got one and am happy with it.
I don't "believe I got a deal", I know I got one and am happy with it.
Aug 14, 2019, 2:12 pm
#21
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: YYC
Programs: AC SE MM
Posts: 605
I don’t think anyone is saying it’s blanket. For me, I booked a CDG flight and know I got 10% off what was the fare the day before. For the other destination I was looking at in Italy, it went up overnight by $800 so a 10% code still results in a higher fare. it might be coincidence of course.
Aug 14, 2019, 2:27 pm
#22
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: YQB
Programs: AC SE
Posts: 2,139
I don’t think anyone is saying it’s blanket. For me, I booked a CDG flight and know I got 10% off what was the fare the day before. For the other destination I was looking at in Italy, it went up overnight by $800 so a 10% code still results in a higher fare. it might be coincidence of course.
But fare availability comes and goes outside of promo periods too. That’s the art of revenue management.
Aug 14, 2019, 3:51 pm
#23
Join Date: Aug 2012
Programs: AC E35K, NEXUS
Posts: 4,368
Those who see the same price today as yesterday, did you input the promo code in the OP when you priced it yesterday? This 15% off did NOT appear for me (as the AC site implied it would) until I input that code.
Aug 14, 2019, 3:58 pm
#24
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 492
Just because you’re (me not you ) paranoid doesn’t mean sometimes it isn’t real ! Nonetheless it’s entirely feasible that they were just doing an overnight sweep of a number of things. I have noticed it before tho
Last edited by lallied; Aug 14, 2019 at 10:28 pm
Aug 14, 2019, 9:35 pm
#25
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Canada
Programs: Aeroplan E50/MM, HH gold, Nat Exec Elite, Kimpton Karma
Posts: 2,354
Another data point.
I’ve also been following routes for upcoming flights. I got a TATL yesterday that was definitely 10% off with the code. Confident about this because I had detailed notes on the itinerary for 6 weeks and including today. On the other hand, the YYZ-LHR (J) route went up by $800 each way a day before the “sale” and remains at that level.
I also moved on several transborder flights that definitely reflected the “sale” price. Again, have detailed notes over a few months.
Too bad I missed the earlier raptors discount — 15%.
I’ve also been following routes for upcoming flights. I got a TATL yesterday that was definitely 10% off with the code. Confident about this because I had detailed notes on the itinerary for 6 weeks and including today. On the other hand, the YYZ-LHR (J) route went up by $800 each way a day before the “sale” and remains at that level.
I also moved on several transborder flights that definitely reflected the “sale” price. Again, have detailed notes over a few months.
Too bad I missed the earlier raptors discount — 15%.
Aug 15, 2019, 12:00 pm
#26
Join Date: Feb 2006
Programs: AC75 MM
Posts: 959
I booked two flights on Tuesday. One is now 10% more than the price I had paid (10% discount for a PE flight) - so 'as advertised'
But the other is now the same price as I had paid after the 15% discount. As the flight is months away I doubt if the inventory suddenly shrank. So it looks like the price was inflated by 15% just for a day or so.
To be fair to AC the terms and conditions included a disclaimer that the price may be less before/after the offer.
But it adds up to a distrust between customer and merchant, which isn't good. Especially with a recession looming. And competition from WS.
But the other is now the same price as I had paid after the 15% discount. As the flight is months away I doubt if the inventory suddenly shrank. So it looks like the price was inflated by 15% just for a day or so.
To be fair to AC the terms and conditions included a disclaimer that the price may be less before/after the offer.
But it adds up to a distrust between customer and merchant, which isn't good. Especially with a recession looming. And competition from WS.
Aug 15, 2019, 12:26 pm
#27
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: YYC
Programs: AC SE MM
Posts: 605
I booked two flights on Tuesday. One is now 10% more than the price I had paid (10% discount for a PE flight) - so 'as advertised'
But the other is now the same price as I had paid after the 15% discount. As the flight is months away I doubt if the inventory suddenly shrank. So it looks like the price was inflated by 15% just for a day or so.
To be fair to AC the terms and conditions included a disclaimer that the price may be less before/after the offer.
But it adds up to a distrust between customer and merchant, which isn't good. Especially with a recession looming. And competition from WS.
But the other is now the same price as I had paid after the 15% discount. As the flight is months away I doubt if the inventory suddenly shrank. So it looks like the price was inflated by 15% just for a day or so.
To be fair to AC the terms and conditions included a disclaimer that the price may be less before/after the offer.
But it adds up to a distrust between customer and merchant, which isn't good. Especially with a recession looming. And competition from WS.
Saw a glitch where AC844 showed J3...P2, tried to book it, which failed in the final stages of booking. How does J3...P2 even happen on that route.
Maybe these problems are due to a step of Amadeus integration....
I agree on the distrust angle.
Aug 15, 2019, 12:53 pm
#29
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: YYC
Programs: AC SE MM
Posts: 605
Aug 15, 2019, 1:06 pm
#30
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Canada
Programs: *G
Posts: 2,304
The current "Europe Fall Sale" is a bit of a joke. Some fares shown are good for a random week, and many in the middle of next summer. The page also shows "Winter" (labelled Hiver yesterday) fares that are mostly next summer. I have also discovered that I can book a decent PY fare departing from YTZ, but if I want to return to YYZ, the outbound increases dramatically to the much higher fare that is showing for a YYZ departure. And looking at the latter does not seem to want me to fly thru YUL even though it appears to be wide open. Going to a European destination thru FRA. Last I looked also, it was P0 on everything.
Well that was a bust. Got to payment for the PY fare but system says "there was a problem wit the flights you selected" Like what?
Well that was a bust. Got to payment for the PY fare but system says "there was a problem wit the flights you selected" Like what?
Last edited by fin 645; Aug 15, 2019 at 2:29 pm Reason: Booking problem