DrGee

Or am I a mug?

Booked last week for a trip LHR to Prague for me and the missus in December. Cost for travelling out CE and back slob was £680.

I have a quick peek this week and I could now get the exact same trip for £520 or so. How on earth does that happen?

Perhaps it's just one of those things but that doesn't stop me feeling somewhat mugged. Should I plead to BA for mercy? Or even a free upgrade on the return leg, currently being "offered" at an extra £150!!? You know, customer relations and all that.

Sprodo

Just a way of life for anything isn't it. I rarely check once I have made a cash booking, as I work on the basis that I was prepared to pay what I did, so thats that.

When I used to work in a shop, it would always bemuse me when people came back asking for a 'credit' for the difference, if an item went into a sale, a week or 2 after they had purchased.

EuropeanPete

£340 each in CE isn't all that bad - any chance there's some flexibility in the terms? (look for cancellation terms as it's unlikely to be fully flex).

Other than that, unfortunately this kind of stuff just happens sometimes. Revenue management is a grumpy, unpredictable mistress.

greyt

Take it in the chin. Flight prices fluctuate all the time. You have paid a premium on this occasion to secure your booking for a long time period.

If the price had now gone up you wouldn't be calling BA to ask to pay more for a flight you had already booked....

I know it's frustrating but this really isn't anything that unusual with flight pricing.

Globaliser

Because some cheaper seats have been put into the system, or because a sale (or other lower fare) has come into effect.

BA does not guarantee (in fact, no airline does) that when cheaper seats or cheaper fares are not available at any particular time, they will never be made available again. Or, in other words, that prices will only ever go up.

Many of us benefit from this. A couple of years ago, there was the last-minute Christmas CW sale when fares were filed that were effectively £1,006 round-trip per person to many long-haul destinations in CW. It was possible for many of us to change our plans so that we could suddenly fly our Christmas trips in far more comfort than we had been expecting. That couldn't happen if fares only ever went up. It's swings and roundabouts.

nux

A premium class sale started this week.

DrGee

The advice about taking it on the chin is good advice. I was just having a bit of a moan really. I only looked 'cos I assumed the price would have gone up and that I'd get a warm feeling having got a bargain. Serves me right.

The trip is partly to celebrate my 60th birthday as well as take in some Christmas cheer so maybe I'm just becoming a bit more grumpy with age.

layz

LHR-PRG is vastly overpriced on BA since there's no competition. Czech Airlines (OK) pulled out from Heathrow a few years ago.

Since OK pulled out the route was moved to T3 (guaranteed bus gate) and prices have risen. I remember paying a little over £200 return business class on OK in my SkyTeam days, BA never matched that price with Club Europe but their economy prices were a lot more competitive.

Now I try and use Avios on this route, it's the only way I can feel satisfied I've got a good deal. There's normally great last minute availability using Avios on this route. CE is £50 + 18000 Avios return - plus that includes free domestic add ons.

DrGee

Well some good news. Yesterday I was being offered an upgrade to CE on the return leg at a cost of £150 (for two). Have just been into MMB and an upgrade was now available for just £8. I've taken that and now feel happy with the world again. Still £100 more than a return CE journey booked today but I can live with that.

I guess the moral here is that if you're happy to pay the price being asked then that's all that matters. A bargain's even better though.

KARFA

Not to rub it in but last week I booked a CE return to PRG for £294 including domestic connections to MAN for late December. Combination of the sale fares and the £100 off a CE return voucher from AVIS that was floating around. For that price I was happy to pay, but had it been much more I would have done ET or used avios.

Sales being lauched a few days after you have booked a ticket are unfortunately sods law. Has happened to me earlier this year when I booked a WT+ to NRT for next March, only for a sale to start about three days later. Could have got the same seats for about £200-£300 less. Such is life.

Globaliser

It sounds like you may have been allowed to change (ie upgrade) your booking to the current sale fare, so you've got the benefit of it after all. The fact that it's £50 more is probably something to do with the change fee that's chargeable for doing so.

Are you now on "no changes, no refunds" conditions? If so, that would probably be the current CE sale fare.

layz

That's about how much I'd be willing to happily pay for CE return LHR-PRG, for some reason if I need a domestic connection I've never got a decent price (always seems to be over £500 which is a bit much to pay to getting a middle seat free and avoid the dreaded wrap). If not using Avios sometimes LH MAN-FRA-PRG is both cheaper and better flight times.

DrGee

Indeed I am. Happy with the outcome though.

Sixth Freedom

Reminds me of the time that I paid GBP 425 for LHR<>HAM only to find, 25 hours later so outside the cooling off window, that BA were having a sale and the price had fallen to GBP 199!

fripperies

Don't mean to offend but how does one get to 59 approaching 60 without knowing that air fares fluctuate? BTW I paid more than you for 2 x CE returns this autumn. Of course a sale came along later but one learns to take these things with equanimity. The dilemma we all face is whether to secure seats by locking in at a given price, or hold out for a lower price and risk losing the seats.The thing is only ever to book if you're happy to pay the price you pay. There will always be some pax who paid less, and some who paid more but none of that impacts on your budget.

Happy birthday in Prague. Lovely place to celebrate.