CAI price increase
 

i just picked up our AONE4 this morning from CAI- and the man at the airport counter said this monday - the price will increase by 50%
not sure if this is 100% - be too late to do anything if it is.. but he said his manager has had 2 requests per day !! i wonder why..
so maybe get prices before you plan

Has anyone else also heard about this price increase?

Just spoke to my contact at BA. The manager at CAI has put in a request that fares should increase by approx. 40%. No decision has come back yet, but it looks likely that fares ex CAI will rise by circa this amount from Jan 1 2004 http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

Why would the BA manager in CAI put in a request for a fare increase -- is it to take advantage of the higher volume of tickets that is currently being sold? An increase will most probably decrease the number of tickets sold ex-CAI.

"Decrease" in sales seems an understatement! I'm sure the Egyptian Tourism people would not look at favourably at killing a sector of the market.

How short sighted. I bet the manager who made the request thinks the demand is driven by a need or desire to start a RTW trip in Egypt.

As soon as the price is raised Cairo will hardly sell any RTW tickets!

looks like we may have to find a new friend in CMB.

I think it's down to logistics. BA's operation in Egypt is small and with current staffing levels it must be difficult dealing with all the demand they're getting for RTW tickets.

I also questioned the logic of it [apropos other posts on here]...

Business is so good that we need to raise prices to stop people from buying our product. That's just silly.

Would this just be for BA issued tickets?

It seems to me that BA cannot do this alone for all the Oneworld carriers. The decision has to be made by all of them, through whatever apparatus exists for making such decisions.

While I do not know how the revenue on a OWE is split up, it seems logical that all of the carriers would subscribe to a price increase ex-CAI. The Egyptian Pound continues to deteriorate against most world currencies. This means substantially less home currency revenue for each OW airline carrying OWE pax who ticket in CAI.

A BA CTO manager in CAI told me earlier this year that they recognized the surge in RTW demand ex-CAI was due to the very weak EGP and that something would be done about it if the weakness continued. It has so their rumored action is not unexpected. After all, we have seen it happen in other places with currency issues, most notably South Africa.

With the drop in the Dollar we might get lucky and have AA delay the increases. The other issue is how *A will price the ticket. The last thing ow needs is to be 40% higher than their competition.

The sad thing is that the CAI pricing has had to have an impact on travel - just as cheap domestic tickets has increased air travel in general. It would be rather sad to see this travel motivator killed off.

At the beginning of this year, EGP 1 = US$0.22 and €0.21. Today EGP 1 = $US0.16 and €0.13. That's almost a 30% decline against the US$ and a 40% decline against the €. A 40% increase would bring the pricing back to near the January 1, 2003 levels for the US$ but still 15% under the level for the € at that time.

QUOTE]Originally posted by kenm:
The other issue is how *A will price the ticket. The last thing ow needs is to be 40% higher than their competition.
[/QUOTE]

Not that that stopped them in the case of South Africa originating tickets.

Mrs Sobhi needs a well-earned rest. Why should she issue half the world's tickets single-handed? Give her a break.

What a bizzare statement. BA can give her a vacation, a raise or a co-worker if this was the issue at hand.

I bought my ex-CAI ticket from AA and the agent who wrote it wants anything but a "rest" or "break" from selling such tickets.

The South African RTW price jumped nearly 90% when they raised the rates. This was when the rand was at 13:1$.. now it's more like 6:1$ with the result that now it is more expensive to buy a RTW in South Africa than in the USA.

Unfortunately...All good things must come to an end.

Bummer. As I was hoping to finally try to do an ex-CAI ticket next summer http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

If someone buys a ticket now before the price increase he can still start next year, can't he?

The ticket would have to be paid and issued. The first international leg can't be changed.

Let's not jump to any conclusions. We have not heard any confirmation of this rate rise. It's all speculation at the moment.

AA's GSO in CAI has heard the rumors (probably from nervous FTers, such as myself), but has not gotten any comfirmation.

Me too! And she they said BA was proposing increases of A 50% D 40% and L30%.

They also siad this "However January04 there is a new Rate of Exchange from USD to EGP" Any idea what that entails?

My guess about the USD-EGP comment in the above post is that all future prices will be in USD, like many other countries that have volatile currencies. Look at Zambia, Poland, Indonesia, etc...

Does anyone know when is the ticket actually issued? Let's say if I book and fax over credit card details now, but pick the ticket up in February, can I lock in price at today's level? Is the ticket gonna be issued now, or in February? How's the experience of FTers who has done it?

TerryK - Yes, you can get the tickets issued at todays price for collection later, providing you have a route. A simple CAI-LHR-LAX-HKG-LHR-CAI would fix the price, you could then pay the $75 and get the final routing changed/expanded after you leave CAI.

[This message has been edited by MAN Pax (edited Dec 16, 2003).]

This is the crucial point. I just had a conversation with AA RTW desk tonight about it. As long as you DO NOT change your 1st segement ex-CAI, then if you reissue either routes or increase the number of continents, it will be at the price based on date of purchase.

Thanks. Does that mean my credit card will be charged on, say 19-Dec-03, and ticket issued on 19-Dec-03, and it will be sitting in the BA office awaiting my collection in February?

I guess what I would like to make sure is that the date of purchase will be 19-Dec-03, in the above example, not Feb-04 when I actually pick it up and start travel.


[This message has been edited by TerryK (edited Dec 16, 2003).]

You will just have to ask that the ticket is issued and that they keep the ticket (provide them your credit card details, a letter of authority and a copy of you passport first pages). I bought a DGLOB34, which has to be issued 7 days before first flight. The ticket stays in the safe of BA CAI Airport office until you pick it up.

So is the RTW good for one year of purchase or one year from the first flown segment? IE buy a RTW now for departure Dec 04, good through Dec 05?

Yup, 1 year from 1st flown segment.

Thanks. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cool.gif

Well, one could always start to cultivate the possibilities slightly west of CAI. I can't remember if the thread was here or on the *A forum, but there were tales of ludicrusly cheap tickets; RTW and more plain varieties.

If course it would be an interesting exercise to take a holiday in Disney World after using this venue for tickets http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Price increases do seem to be in the works but the rate of 23320 for a DONE4 was still good as of today.

The advantage for Star Alliance tickets is that these can still be issued in Canada whereas Oneworld tickets need to be issued at country of origin.

The big disadvantage of *A tickets are that they're not good on Cathay,BA, or even Qantas, and they insist on counting the miles flown instead of segments.

If you can purchase your ticket starting in CAI without going to CAI. Can you then not have your travel agent purchase it for you ex CAI and then pick it up at a later date while in CAI? I do not see any difference other than having a middle person you trust making shure you get what you want and your money goes into the right hands. You give them the money they buy the ticket you pick it up. Is it any different than having a friend purchase a ticket for you? I mean if you know the agent really well isn't there some sort of loop hole?

The problem is finding a good Egyptian travel agent in Cairo.

Has the price increase been confirmed?

Would the RTW F ticket be fully refundable should none of the coupons be used?