Eskimoboy

Doing my first EX-EU in mid/late December, OSL-BKK in CW. Planning on staying the night before in Oslo to try and take some of the risk out of disruption or connection problems.

Ideally I'd fly BA to Oslo there and back for my positioning flight but it's currently pricing at £150 per person while SAS is only £75. I guess I was wondering if anyone who does the Oslo leg frequently could advise me whether i should hold on for a while and wait to see if BA reduce their prices (I did see cheap prices in a previous sale but doesn't cover the 16th when i fly) or should I bite the bullet and book SAS? I know it's many months off so i'm not in an immediate rush to book, however this ex-EU has sort of overstretched me anyway so I don't necessarily want to wait too long if prices keep going up.

Appreciate this is a bit of a"how long is a piece of string" type question but there is a wealth of experience on this forum!

pythonisman

I don't have direct experience for OSL, but mid-late December understandably starts getting busy / is in high demand because of peak Christmas travel.

I did an ex-EU from FCO about a month ago (20/12) and booked the long haul almost 9 months in advance. The flights from LHR-FCO never got cheaper, only more expensive, BUT I had a restriction that we had to fly on the last flight of the day due to work commitments -- YMMV.

If I didn't need the TPs to maintain/attain status (i.e. if they were just crediting toward lifetime) and all other things are equal (baggage, flight timing etc) I'd have a hard time justifying double the cost, especially if there's any others on your itinerary. If you have status w/ BA (your profile says blue) which gives you extra checked bags, lounge access or priority, and they are useful to you then obviously they have a non-monetary value that only you can define. I'm lucky enough to have lounge access in either case and so would prob fly with SAS esp if I was travelling with someone.

If I didn't have status, I probably wouldn't pick BA in economy over another full-service carrier unless I was gunning for a particular status level.

ChrisBub

I would agree with the above re: Christmas travel and pricing, so nothing further to add there.

But perhaps some useful SAS/OSL info as I fly regularly there and with them. They often have quite cheap Plus fares, but not sure it gives you lounge access in London. If it's only 30Eur or so more I'd go for that, and on way back you do have lounge access in OSL as well as fast track security. I find SAS generally quite good on European short hauls.

Oslo airport has an abundance of hotels around, and there are shuttles from the cluster just to the West of the airport itself (but paid shuttles so factor that in - around 7Eur each way). Another option for accommodation is Lillestrom, which is about 10 mins from the airport by the regional train. Tickets are about 8Eur and the hotels are cheaper than Oslo city centre usually. This depends on how early your morning flight leaves OSL, as I think the first train is 5.05am, and then the next and more regular ones start at 6am.

Enjoy the trip.

jwhite9185

I needed to be in OSL this past December to start an ex EU ticket. The cheapest way to get from London was use Avios to Copenhagen, head into the city for some lunch and then a £49 Norwegian flight CPH-OSL in the evening.

Globaliser

FWIW, up to and including 15 December, LHR-OSL flights have availability down to O class (although not on all flights). From 16 December to 3 January inclusive, availability appears to be limited to M class and higher. This seems clearly to be a deliberately revenue/yield management decision. So I think that the technical basis of your question is really whether these "blackout" dates for the cheaper booking classes might get moved or lifted in time.

Are you sure that you're seeing a price of £150 for flying LHR-OSL on 16 December? I'm seeing prices in the £250 region for both one-way and round-trip itineraries. One reason for asking is that if you might be able to save a significant amount by flying LHR-OSL on 15 December instead, that might possibly be worth doing even though you'd then have an extra night and day in Oslo (which you would turn into part of your holiday, of course).

Ideally, though, all of this should be lined up before you actually book the main ticket, rather than planning the trip in chunks, because you minimise the risk of unpleasant surprises that you might have been able to avoid if you'd planned the whole trip holistically (eg if you could have booked the long-haul for one day earlier). Nevertheless, I know that's a counsel of perfection because sometimes it just isn't possible to have absolutely everything in place at that time.

Misco60

I would definitely hold back for a while.

I was in a very similar situation this time last year, needing return flights to Oslo for 16-30 December and seeing only stupidly expensive fare buckets available. I checked the fares almost daily and, on 9 February, I was suddenly able to get return tickets on BA at £75 per person.

Eskimoboy

Thanks everyone, that's very helpful. Have ended up booking on SAS for £67 each. (slightly cheaper than I realised).Have got a priority pass so will have lounge access.

And yes I'm currently a Blue but this ex EU will hopefully nudge me up to within touching distance of Silver :-)

Eskimoboy

Ah too late although I will hold on and hopefully get the Oslo to LHR return leg cheaper!

Misco60

You're unlikely to get the best deal by buying two one-way tickets. As I said, I paid £75 return LHR-OSL, travelling out 16 Dec and back on 30 Dec.

In your opening post you said you're in no hurry to book, and two hours later you've booked.

Eskimoboy

Well I thought I wasn't :-) But the general consensus seemed to be that the prices wouldn't come down, and then when I priced up SAS again I thought £67 seemed ok. I have a specific day I have to fly on and it has to be an evening flight so my options were fairly limited and lack of flexibility often brings a premium price!
I'm more flexible flying home so won't rush in though, will hopefully wait and see a reduced BA price. thanks for the help!

Globaliser

It looks like it's the same pattern for the reverse direction: O class is back from 4 January.

ermis177

You do get access to all 4 lounges from T2 if you have a plus fare. You do not get access if the lounge is operated by a third party. That is not the case in LHR terminal 2.

irishguy28

I'd have waited.

Norwegian haven't even loaded their fares for December yet!

(Why didn't you just use Avios?)

Eskimoboy

Yes and it's possible I'll regret not waiting, however my judgement call was that £67 was ok for me, now ideally it would have been cheaper but it's also possible I'd have to have paid more than that in the end. As I said I'm not very flexible on the way out, it has to be the 16th and it has to be after work. In fact the SAS flight being 15 minutes later than the BA one does make it easier for my wife with work.

I could have used Avios but I'm not massively Avios rich and prefer to use them for long haul flights with a companion voucher or when there is no other alternative and I can make a decent cash saving.In this scenario I could have done a redemption for 7500 plus £17.50. But I value an avios at 1p so effectively I'd be paying £92.50. And I can fly SAS for £25 cheaper.
I'm well aware i'm likely to be one of the less well off in terms of avios and cash in this forum (My wife works for a charity, i used to but now run my own business) so different people have different trade offs and what they're willing to pay.

Anyway as always it's been helpful and I might sit on the flight back for a while, as worst case I'll do a redemption if cheaper options don't appear,. I'm much more flexible on the way home as well which is always an advantage!

SK AAR

£67 is a very reasonable SK fare to OSL (even if only a o/w). I doubt BA will lower their fares that much later on.

For your information I have monitored BA fares to LHR from Denmark on more than 1 occasion and my general impression is that once fare start to increase they do rarely drop again and certainly not to rock bottom levels like £75 for a return ticket.