Hope someone can shed some light on this as I'm scratching my head!

looking at booking a flight KUL to NCL, in business now the approx cost would work out at Ł3533, however if I do the reverse NCL to KUL same dates its Ł2256, difference of Ł1277! (I also need to book flights in a few weeks for the NCL toKUL)

When I rang Emirates in KL to ask why there was such a big difference, the only reason they came up with was I could only buy a flexible txt from KUL but could buy a restricted if I bought it from NCL.

Asked why I could not buy a restricted txt from KUL, and just said dont know!!!

Anyone had this problem? now looking at Quatar and Ethiad, sorry Emirates is just getting way to expensive.....

Two words: Haggle Emirates

Tried that on the phone with them and said they were more expensive, etc. etc and I will look at other airlines and got know where, so at a bit of a loss with that.

Any ideas who else to haggle with?

Oh, dont know what happend with that post!!!

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8800/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/212)

Response: I'm sorry ma'am sir.

No need to buy direct from EK ex-KUL. Although it has a best price guarantee, that is only valid for webfares. Last time I was in KL, there were plenty of non-web agents in town who would sell discounted fares - e.g. MYR6000-7000++ promo fare in C to Europe (with some flight/date restrictions). Sorry, I can't help you with names of agents though (...but there was one next to the famous beef ball noodle shop in Chinatown!)

Other potentially cheap alternatives are GF, BI (but is it dry?) and KL (direct to NCL, and MH codeshares to AMS also included in some fares)

Earlier this year I paid over 4000 pounds to travel F LHR-BKK return when booked direct with EK. Was directed by another FTer to netflights.com who were able to do the same fare for 3300 pounds. Invited EK in the UK to match the fare or get close to it and they said they could not match nor reduce their fare - wierd! Guess who got the business?

When I last flew with BI they were dry but had no objections to alcohol being brought onboard. They were also happy to provide the mixers.

Yea, this is true of almost any two city pairs on the EK network. It's very possible that NCL-KUL is cheaper than DXB-KUL in the same class of service. I've seen SIN-JFK fares at half the DXB-JFK fares. And it also varies by class of service. J fares ex-USA are always very high and have huge change and cancellation fees, while you can get some pretty cheap ones from India. I think the best one I've seen is a fully flex one way DXB-SIN fare that cost more than the fully flex return fare for the same days of travel.

Spoke to EK customer services in London and again in KL, both tried to get a cheaper costing but could not, They both said the same thing that only flex can be bought from KL, and that's the way it is.

Also spoke to the Skywards Gold desk, who for once were not helpful at all, same story and basically said the fares EK were competitive with other carriers on that route, so tough! Tried to tell them they were way more expensive that Etiad or Qatar, even with a internal UK flights.

So will book with another carrier and also prob change the next two return fights as well, as EK are way above price wise. With the new changes to Skywards coming in, not that bothered now of keeping my tier level up. They really were not in the slightest bit interested that I would take my business elsewhere, so much for being a elite Gold member which I was referred to on the last 4 flights, whatever that is.

And they have changed my seat selection 3 times on my next return flight for no reason.....

KLM came out at just over Ł2,000 with better flight times as well. Have not had a chance to go to a travelagent, as suggested as the flight needed to be booked by today, and I'm not currently in KL

Thanks to everyone's input!

EK seem to have started a new strategy of making their customers switch to other airlines.

Gorillaz, that is exactly what I was thinking.

As has been posted here before, this isn't something which EK made up. Fares ex every country are filed separately and approved by the government from the origin airport. The only fares that should price exactly the same in both directions (assuming that the fare class is available/applicable) are wholly domestic flights. This has been the case for decades. Thus for a while people were going out of their way to buy tickets originating in BKK when the fares were low from there in the mid 90s, then it shifted to CMB when J/F fares were low from there. TIP also had subsidized fares from there that were only available for tickets purchased there. Every country has its own restrictions and competitive environment. Currencies also rise and fall. Sometimes it can work out to be less expensive to buy two one ways if prices ex one country are significantly higher than fares ex another country. Sometimes bucket shops have lower fares ex one country than another based upon incentives to get passengers in that country on one airline or another.

Slightly off topic but yesterday i was trying to get a date change on a flexible F ticket. I got so fed up with EK attitude I changed my flight to Etihad. The net result, i saved money, will get a refund on the EK ticket and EK lost revenue.

Yes, but did you have to pay a cancellation fee? Already this year I have had to fork out 350 pounds to EK for two cancellations to enable me to take EK flights but with cheaper fares from travel agents. So EK have had that money from me on top of what they got from the travel agent. So EK win (?) again!