Hi All,

I'm looking at flying to Pune, India in September.

My plan was to fly business class to Dubai, then hop a Spice Jet into Pune, but round trip Emirates from LA to Dubai was US$12,000.

I then tried Emirates from LA to Delhi, and the fair was $3700, business class all legs.

How is flying on Emirates from LA to Delhi through Dubai in business class almost $9000 less than just flying to Dubai? I feel like I've got to be missing something.

Thanks!

Rick

Welcome to the world of airline pricing. Fares are often higher for nonstop flights than for connecting flights.

As Kiwi Flyer said, that's just how it works with EK. It is well-known that prices to/from DXB as an origin/destination are significantly higher than connecting flights.

... not only EK, every airline does/has this

Only thing you're NOT missing is $8000

Because, despite reports from some quarters, Emirates is actually out to make a profit. Like most airlines.

And that means, that like most airlines, they use revenue management tools to set, and constantly update, the prices for every seat on every flight on every possible itinerary. They will charge the maximum possible amount that the market will bear for every particular itinerary.

I guess you know that air fares have been decoupled from routes/distances a long, long time ago. The person wishing to fly from LA to Dubai is a different person from the person wishing to fly from LA to Delhi. As such - and although they will be accommodated on the same flight and in the same type of seat and class of service for the majority/all of their respective journeys - they are, nonetheless, buying totally different products, which therefore have totally different prices.

Besides - it's not as if every person flying LAX-DXB on that plane paid exactly the same amount.

Yeah, it seems counter-intuitive that someone who has to fly further, and actually take a whole extra second flight, gets to pay less. But, when you fly to India, the costs are going to be cheaper, so EK has to charge a rate that is competitive with the other options.

when it comes to LAX-DXB, they are the only airline flying direct, so they already have an advantage there - they can get you there the fastest and most comfortably, with a direct non-stop flight, so they can afford to charge more than their rivals. So the price of a ticket to DXB will be based at a level where it is not too dissimilar to other airlines' prices, and at a level that is not so high that no-one will buy them, and not so low that they are selling out weeks in advance.

The price of a journey to Delhi really has no influence whatsoever on the price of a journey to Dubai, even if, as in this case, the journey to Delhi first requires a journey to Dubai.

I agree with OP that its a very strange system. Obviously it must be effective for the airline to make money, but from a consumer standpoint it seems completely unreasonable.

I've searched numerous itineraries on Emirates and actually surprised you found the onward flight to India so much cheaper. My experience has been that you pay the same price to get to dubai and then you basically go to the next destination for free. i.e JFK to dubai is $5K but then could book JFK to Bali for ~$5.5K. Just weird

This is a long running sore point for travelers based in dubai. Even a flight to Doha which takes 50 mins can cost 300 pounds in Y class and we pay more for outbound flights out of Dxb than if we had bought a return ticket in our destination. My personal belief is that Emirates makes whatever margins it does from Dxb based pax by creaming them for what it can. It doesn't help that etihad and they clearly have some sort of arrangement which keeps their prices similar while QR isn't much help cheaper if at all. Of course Emirates also benefits from the huge amount of business traffic based in DXb that must travel regularly to MCT KWI BAH RUH etc. without railway or driving options flying is the only way. Geopolitics and geography really work very well to EKs advantage.

It's the same from LHR or any of the other hubs. If you want to fly LHR-JFK directly, it will cost a lot. If you fly LHR-AMS-JFK or LHR-FRA-JFK it will generally cost a lot less.

You pay for the privilege of the direct flight.

I've moved much of my business to QR as a consequence, and I can mix my origin/destination between AUH, DWC, DXB and SHJ depending on schedules, pricing, etc ... and avoid DXB much of the time. I haven't felt the need to drive to RAK ... yet

Per others, above, I think Emirates is the last airline I'd use if visiting Dubai. Likewise, I wouldn't use Qatar if visiting Doha. One option.... Good 15 years since I was last in Mumbai, but how about Mumbai via Dubai and a taxi to Pune (always wanted to do that after spotting the large, shared Pune taxis near central)...

Yeah that's a decent option, transfers to PNQ from BOM are readily available at the airport, I believe its a 5h driver or so. and flights to BOM from anywhere are typically cheap (cheaper than DEL definitely!)

I often travel from LAX to MNL, and often see some discrepancy in pricing (PAL has business class direct from LAX to MNL for about $5k, but China Southern has business class through Guangzhou for $2700 - with a superior product.

I was floored by the price discrepancy on the LAX to DEL vs. DXB though - you're certainly right in that it makes sense that they have to meet competitive pricing into India.

As for Pune, I flew into BOM last time and the taxi ride to Pune almost killed me. On the way there, the guy drove 100mph in traffic - I put on my headphones and wept softly. On the way back, there was an accident that forced us on a detour and it took 6 hours to get back and I missed my flight. From that day on, I swore to fly in. We'll see how that works...

For most travellers, of course. Surely not for flyertalkers.