Travlur

Hello Everyone,
I wasn't sure how to title this one. It may be normal, with the extreme variable pricing that airlines have. I was looking at booking 4 seats in LaP. The first 1-3 seats are pricing in a normal dollar amount I would expect. As soon as I add on the 4th seat, the price goes up over $60,000.00. For example, I picked out 3 tickets that totaled $20K. If I add one more seat, the price jumps to $89K.
Wondering if anyone has seen this before, or if it could be an anomaly on the website that I might be able to get a better result by booking over the phone. I am not surprised that airlines charge more for their last seat in the cabin, but it seemed extreme.
In a related issue, does anyone know if AF makes their last seat available on points? If I need 4, it might work if I I could pay for 3 and use points for the 4th.
Thanks in advance.

croberts134

There are only 3 seats available at the lower fare. When you add the 4th passenger all passengers are charged the higher fare since there cannot be multiple fares on a single reservation. The best bet when that happens is to book 3 on one reservation and then 1 on the other.

Travlur

Thanks makes sense, thanks.

CyBeR

I don't believe so. You'd have to do it the other way around though that would likely not avoid the problem.

af fp

ijgordon

It's almost certainly this.
The difference between a discounted "F" fare and a full "P" fare can be quite large, and of course when that difference gets multipled across 4 pax, we're talking $$$$$$$$.

AF.com (and many other site) will have a note next to a specific flight saying something like "Only X seats left at this fare". I think for AF that cutoff is 4 seats for J and 3 seats for F, although perhaps it depends on the configuration. It does seem that for many 77W flights AF will initially offer P4F3, so you wouldn't be able to get the whole family the cheaper F fare - you either have to look for a 380 with a larger P cabin or just suck up the higher P fare for that last passenger.

brunos

That's indeed the best bet.
Remember that the 77W with F class only have 4 seats and they, at most, offer P4F3. There is no way you can get the discount fare on 4 seats. And if you first book an award the open seats will become P3F2 (F is always one less than P).
Your only hope is to find a flight with A380 where they go up to P9F5. But the seat is really much less attractive.

KLBGO

Is La Premiere a glorified bus ride?

lloydah

Well it certainly is an Airbus ride