Very good point by freed0m, one might say they've not increased their prices in real terms, you just need more GBP now to buy the ticket, the base fare is set in USD and base fares for other currencies are adjusted periodically, e.g. all fares ex SA are being adjusted on the 2nd of April

The pound has been pretty stable against the dollar since the referendum at the $1.30 mark so it's nothing to do with exchange rates. The price did go up in 2016 from £2900 to £3200 when the pound went from $1.55 to $1.28 and for the rest of 2016, 2017 and early 2018 that's what I was paying. Prices went up over 33% around April last year to £4100 which is what I have been paying since. It was only in Feb this year that they dropped back down to £3200. Sorry if it seems I am repeating myself but I really just don't get it. Sounds to me that EK were trying to profiteer and realised that their customers weren't prepared to pay this sort of price.
I shouldn't complain I suppose:)

Well, yeah, can't blain a business for wanting to make a profit.

Based on a quick Google the GBP opened 2016 at 1.49 per USD and is now at 1.30. decreasing 13%.

The exchange rate thing has really ticket you off I see :)

Oil has also become more expensive in the past year. Anyway, you say that but it so happens that we're discussing a drop in fares in this thread, so prices do come down...

And remember that adjusted for inflation air travel is the cheapest it's ever been. Airlines need.to increase base fares just to keep them constant in theory. 500usd a year ago is 530usd or so now (varies heavily based on country obviously)

Yet again- this is what supply and demand is.

It obviously depends how far pre referendum (I think we are still pre Brexit, at least for another 2 weeks...) one goes. I use this: https://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?f...o=USD&view=10Y. So anywhere between 1.5 and 1.6 would be my guess.

Oh yes, blaming the exchange rate for everything (especially in SA) is a pet hate of mine. Using the gullibility of the general public to drive up prices.

Oil: well it has been going up and down. A bit like exchange rates ;). At some stage it was well over $100 and then the airlines used the 'Fuel levy' to offset this cost increase. Fair enough. When the oil price went down, ,many airlines quickly changed this to 'carrier imposed surcharge' to avoid having to decrease it. And of course now it is also being used to reduce the value of miles (by still charging this surcharge for award bookings).

Finally, I agree that air travel is (after inflation) cheaper than ever. That's what competition is doing for us. And so we are back to supply and demand. :D

It's actually remarkably steady in terms of base fares, but there are fewer Savers available in J and especially F, from what I hear (I fly Y, so doesn't affect me). SA is great because most of the time Flex is the lowest available Y fare and it's very reasonably priced. Even when Saver and Special are available the savings are negligible (Special to Saver difference has been as low as $3 for CPT-DXB-HYD for example, and only another $30 from Saver to Flex, overall return trip is often in the $600-$800 region for CPT-BOM/HYD or even CPT-Europe.

The ZAR hasn't weakened that much in macro terms, it was very strong (relatively speaking) for a while, but EK didn't lower prices correspondingly, the ZAR was very weak last August which is when EK last made a base fare adjustment in SA, and this is the first adjustment since then, that I am aware of.

Just booked a May 2019 MAN-BKK return in F - £3170, whilst the runway works are ongoing and flights are reduced.
Very happy at that kind of price ChelseaStu.....
However, most flight options were around the £3.7K - £3.8K level.

Checked the prices in J, BHX/DXB return in October, in the 'sale' that ended yesterday and they were £212 more than I paid for the exact flights, purchased in February !
SS