Jacketwatch

I was looking at a flight round-trip from New Delhi to Dubai on business class for January and returning back to Delhi in February. I called directly to the Emirates office and I got a price of around $3100 for two. At the same time I was on their website and saw that you could get that ticket for around Rs.118,000 which I booked and it came to around US$1675. I asked the agent home I was connected to about this and he said you can get better deals on the website. However I never saw such a disparity before as this is a huge difference. The ticket I booked had some restrictions but I do not understand why the agent I spoke to could not have offered me this ticket as well. I asked the agent I was connected to about this and he said you can get better deals on the website. However I never saw such a disparity before as this is a huge difference. The ticket I booked had some restrictions but I do not understand why the agent I spoke to could not have offered me this ticket as well. I would like to ask is this typical of booking a flight on the emirates website versus calling them directly?

ft101

First I've heard of it. Usually a phone booking fee added but nothing of the magnitude you're seeing.

Were you looking at exactly like for like as I can see the timing of different flights from/to DEL on the same day have big differences?

skywardhunter

I'd imagine you just got a poor phone agent who then tried to talk their way out of offering you a higher price. either insist on them re-checking or hang up and call again.

Jacketwatch

Yes the flights were the exact same, same times, same class.

Jacketwatch

The agent did try to talk me out of the outbound Air Dubai flight saying it’s the same price as Emirates but not as good.
I recall seeing AD flights for quite a bit less so yes maybe this guy didn’t want to be bothered. He did say Emirates owns AD which I didn’t know.

Jacketwatch

I should have said Fly Dubai.

skywardhunter

Emirates don't own FlyDubai, they have the same owner which isn't the same as one owning the other. It might have been that the call centre was pricing a Codeshare rather than an FZ marketed flight.

Which number did you call, which city were you in when you called to make the booking? It might be a point of sale issue

thijsseh

Same 'class' as in Business vs Economy? Or same fare bucket (i.e Business Saver (O), vs Business Flex (I or J) or Business Flex+ (J).
On the website you get a choice, with the cheapest option being the default price. It would appear that the agent quoted you a more expensive bucket. That does not make sense though, as he can see the same stock as you can see via the website. The only possibility would be that the cheaper bucket was sold out in the time between you looking at the website and calling the agent. But from your first post I deduct that you went back to the website after calling the agent? Did you call the Emirates call centre or a city office?

Jacketwatch

I called the toll free number directly from the Emirates website. I called from the Chicago area where I live.

Jacketwatch

II called the toll free number from the Emirates website. I actually was viewing the prices on the website when I was speaking to the agent. The fare I booked was biz saver. The biz flex price comes to the $3100 ish the agent quoted me. My own travel agent was not able to pull up saver price. She too got the $3100 price which is the best flex price. This price for her came from a list of published airfares of the airlines servicing the itinerary I wanted to use. I asked her to go directly to the Emirates website but she did not want to do that apparently thinking that she would not find anything different. I did tell her yesterday what I did and what I paid and she was surprised by that. However good for me!
BTW I have been looking at the Emirates website for some time and this price has not changed in weeks and is still available today as I just checked so it seems the issue has to do with the agent I spoke to. Why he did not offer the saver price I have no idea. Maybe he didn't either.

skywardhunter

Ok then it should be priced based on the point of first departure, regardless of where you called from. Was just wondering if you called a local sales office which is in a different departure city/country from your itinerary that could cause discrepancy in pricing

Jacketwatch

I checked google airline matrix today and the prices for the same dates and for biz tickets on Emirates are the same as what we paid so it reflects the saver price.
My TA thinks the low price was based on the country of origin where in this case the economy is underdeveleoped and therefore they don't want to price people out of the market but I am not sure about that as you can get ORD-DXB in economy saver for two during the same time frame for around $1700.00 total. Thats not bad.