Hyperacusis

Is it possible to route via a third country on separate ticket?

QueenOfCoach

There was an article in the LA Times about flights to and from Venezuela. They are fully booked months in advanced. Seems people change money on the black market outside Venezuela, the come back and exchange at official rates. According to the article, one can make 10x the original investment. It's called "credit card scratching".

http://www.latimes.com/world/worldno...#axzz2kcFCMZIm

mvoight

Maybe it is an error and someone should tell AA

jake108

Not to the point, apologies, but when in SJU a month back I meet very friendly woman from there and since I am an unlikely visitor asked her for some currency-beautiful and colorful, one denomination with armadillo on it-altogether the 35 Bolivars she gave me amounted to something like 25 cents.

FWAAA

Possible explanation/speculation on why it appears that AA is under-selling these flights: Is it possible that the no-show rate is much lower than is typical and/or is it possible that the Venezuelan denied boarding penalties are substantial?

Hyperacusis

Is AA forced to continue operating these flights, even if they are empty, in order to hold Venezuela traffic rights? I know this route is a money maker for AA, and of course the US is no longer issuing traffic rights to Venezuela.

FWAAA

What evidence exists that AA is operating empty flights to/from CCS? I thought that the problem was that the flights were sold-out and full (due to the currency arbitrage).

ElDie

I am pretty sure you only need to show proof of having a ticket, in order to get a certain amount of USD at the offical rate (for travel needs). Since that rate is so ridicuolously better than the black market, it just makes economic sense to buy a ticket and sell those USD in the black market, without ever stepping into an airplane. Hence a lot No shows.

Also, there's the trick of purchasing the ticket and travelling with dozens of CCs (friend, family and strangers for a fee) and extract the maximum amount of USD allowed by the CC abroad.

You can see some of this second operative going on in Argentina too, but they severely limited the amount of USD you can extract in neighboring countries, in order to prevent it.

bzcat

Some of you guys are over thinking this.

Airlines are under selling and zero out the seats ahead of time because they don't want to take any reservation from Venezuela that far ahead of time in a period of hyperinflation. Since AA can only accept bolívar fuerte by law from bookings originating from Venezuela, they run a huge currency risks when annual inflation is at 45%. So they control the seat inventory both to and from Venezuela. They only want to take your money when it is very close to the departure dates. So basically, it is all about revenue management but not the typical reason with loads or yields but simply trying to predict how much the bolívar fuerte will be worth 1 month, 2 months, or 3 months from now.

Aduana28

ElDie, that used to be the case, however they are cracking down on what you describe.

http://en.mercopress.com/2013/10/21/...ks-at-airports

Supposedly CADIVI is going to audit more closely to see if people applying for Dollars at the official 6.3 exchange rate actually boarded their flight.

Viajero Millero

What happens when they end up with flights 40% full in late December because they un-zeroed them out too late?

Is having no Bolivares and empty seats better than having some (a ton, really) bolivares with some chance ofthem becoming USD at the official rate?

Tough calls coming up for AA in Venezuela.

bzcat

Well, since there is currency control, having lots of Bolivares is useless as well.

My company is making great profits in Hugoland but we can only record revenue on whatever we can get out of the country. So AA must have the same problem. Selling lots of tickets in Bolivares is pointless because US accounting rules will not let them record those revenues. I would guess that all the revenue on these flights are US-issued tickets. All the Venezuela issued tickets are basically "free" because AA can't record them as revenue.

To make up for the loss, I'm sure AA is flying the planes to Caracas with empty fuel tanks and flying back with full tanks, paying for Jet A in worthless Bolivares they have on hand. And this is probably why they have zero out the seats - if they already have enough Bolivares to pay for the return fuel, catering, and crew hotel/overnight costs, they will not sell any more tickets on that flight.

MyTravels

For a while AA was primarily focusing on US sales (paying in USD showed availability while paying in VEF showed sold-out), but now availability is limited (sometimes showing 7 to 90-days out) when originating in the US and paying with USD (USD ramped inflation is not quite here yet).

Not sure why Rev Management would change this practice unless AA got in trouble for paying when originating in one country but not another.

brando09

I'm glad more people are becoming aware of the ongoing currency issues. Kinda gives you a sad look into what everyday life is like right now

This whole deal really is unfortunate for people who really want to fly, not just use the ticket to exchange currency.

I have some friends who have done this recently:

Flight shows 100% full online but they still plan to travel on the date they want, so they pack up, head to the airport the morning of the flight, and talk to the people at the ticket counter. They will sell them a ticket since the flight is technically "full" but very few people checked in. And yes, from what I understand from some UA and AA pilot friends, many of the flights are flying at very low load factors sometimes.

Viajero Millero

The total amount owed today now closer $2.6 billion.

(Full article in Spanish )