LUGlodo

Hello!

I was playing around with Google Flights to search some flights and noticed that departing from OSL there are some quite good fares in F via FRA or ZRH. In many cases, departing from OSL and connecting in either ZRH or FRA with the long-haul in F is cheaper than the same LX/LH long-haul flight in C, departing from many other origins in Europe.

I am fascinated (well, at times also annoyed ;-) ) by revenue management and by pricing strategies and was wondering: Why Oslo, which has comparatively strong purchasing power compared to many other cities and doesn't offer strong non-stop competition, has often the lowest F fares? What are other origin airports in Europe with particularly attractive F fares?

I am sorry if this was discussed already, I couldn't find a relevant thread.

SK AAR

Did you check the currency exchange chart for Norwegian currency? If you did, you would understand the reason why fares ex OSL/Norway are relatively cheap (in other currencies than NOK).

LUGlodo

Good point, hadn't thought about that! OTOH, for example the BRL has just been loosing value against USD/EUR/CHF over the past 10 years and actually fares ex GRU have only increased since and are always much higher than ex ZRH/FRA for exactly the same flights.

Are there any other sweet spots like Norway currently?

Optimator

Recurring sweet spots seem to be AMS, ARN, BUD, CDG, SXB

LHSEN

Just did AMS-JNB about a month ago fully flex ticket in F r/t was 3700eur incl. tax + surcharge p.p.

SK AAR

I'm not convinced that ex Brazil fares are comparable to ex. Europe fares.

ARN and GOT. The same applies to the Swedish currency (SEK) as with NOK. Huge drop against all major currencies.

the810

BUD is also a great departure airport to profit from a weak currency. Perhaps not as good as Scandinavian ones, but it's been pretty consistent throughout the years (and extremely easy for me to reach ).

hugolover

They adjust the EGP prices as that changes. They do the same with TRY which nosedives frequently. It can't be the currency, but the market? Plus, carriers do like to dump seats onto various markets to get a bit of money to further their climate criminality and destroyer pricing.

oliver2002

Nothing to do with currency, these are markets they like to tease for some reason. BUD was to kill Malev, MXP against AZ, ARN/OSL/CPH is targetted at SAS, CDG/AMS AF-KL, BCN/MAD & LON IAG. Availability is vey dynamic and you need good skills to outsmart the MSC inventory control but space can be found and booked.

SK AAR

It has everything to do with the currency decline (at least for Norway and Sweden). Airlines have not been able to increase the fares ex. OSL. ARN and GOT to get the same revenue equivalent in e.g. EUR or GBP.

Flying Lawyer

You may wish to start in CPT and it gets even more crazy: CPT-JNB-FRA-SIN-SYD and return in F (as long as the plane has F) fully flexible with the exception of the first segment and unlimited stopovers allowed for 6.900 EUR

pptskyy

So effectively this means the airlines are subsidising passengers ex OSL? What is the logic/rationale behind this and how long this may continue for in your opinion?

the810

Malév has been dead for over a decade and ex-BUD fares continue to be very low.

nemenor

Does this married segment logic also apply to award space?
E.g. would they release J/F seat on CDG-FRA-LAX ticket but not on non-stop F FRA-LAX?

AA (and I believe UA as well) does it nowadays and it’s rather annoying.

vantage03

Lufthansa doesn’t like change.

They’ll continue to do it the way they’ve done it since the dawn of time, with no rhyme or reason, and that’s that really.