binman

BA have for some years been the preferred choice of carrier for a group ski trip I know about.

Back in March the trip was organised via the usual travel agent and for the same days as every year, namely for 6 nights during the week before Christmas. Traditionally a quiet time for skiing which is why it has been planned this way for many years.

BA quoted Ł590 plus Ł55 fees and taxes per person. It had never been this high before and between the excessive fare and BOB, the group decided it was time for a change. Easy jet were approached and, inclusive of bags seats etc, the price was less than Ł200 pp.

So far, so unremarkable; commercial pressures, legacy airline versus upstarts in orange etc,

Except, yesterday I checked the fare for the same dates and times as had been originally planned. The departing flight was now Ł137 inclusive of taxes and fees. Unsurprising on a Saturday morning to a ski resort. The return on the Friday is however just Ł57.

So 7 months after trying to get Ł645 for flights BA are charging just Ł194.

The morale of the story......... I leave you to decide but seems like BA just scored 38 own goals as they passed up on a regular group booking that they are unlikely to ever get back.

madfish

But the booking terms won’t be the same. Group bookings offer more flexibility than individual bookings. Although I see what you are saying regarding costs. But some people may have been willing to pay at the time to secure their flights. For others the choice of airport is more important than money. (Even at this level!)

Globaliser

In addition, we don't know how many people in the group could have secured tickets for Ł194 round-trip. Even if the relevant booking classes showed 9, you could only expect to get 9 tickets at Ł194. Then you'd have to see what effect that had on the price of the next batch of tickets. So the saving across the group may not have been as much as (Ł645 - Ł194) x 38.Unless they find that BA is cheaper next time, in which case I bet that the group will be back to BA like a shot.

That's not to say that the price disparity this time isn't quite stark. But price is the name of the game in this market.

ahmetdouas

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FlyerTalker688786

Not necessarily, some group terms and condition is far worse than an individual O class booking...

FlyerTalker688786

Ha! I was going to say sometimes Orange can be very addictive!

Orange.Man

Orange is the new BlAck

HIDDY

What is the route and dates?

madfish

Could you give an example? I was thinking in terms of the flexibility that group bookings provide in terms of providing the names of travelling passengers which only need to be confirmed eight weeks before departure.

binman

Group bookings of this size go via group sales and are not impacted by general availability especially when booked far in advance. Clearly BA made a commercial decision based on their highly sophisticated yield management system, but in this case a group of elderly pensioners could have told them that flights back from ski resorts on a Friday before Christmas are usually not that busy.

Both the BA service and the Easy service are from and too the same airports. Out Saturday AM and back Friday.

Will they be back....jury is out on that one. The group hadn't moved business in the past when Easy Jet offered to undercut BA but the differential this time was incredible.

Neither carrier provides any service, both flog over priced food and both get you from A to B in 2 hours. But Easy Jet have started well, they responded with sensible fares at the time of booking ( or at least fares that seemed to be offering value for money) and the fare included bags and pre assigned seats. BA issued the quote and made no further attempt to secure the booking.

I think what will be noticeable is that the easy jet plane will be clean and new in stark contrast to the LGW BA fleet.

If I remember I will try to get a trip report from one of the group to see what they think.

FlyerTalker688786

For example, cruise ship groups that is one way to join or returning from a cruise ship, depends on whether it is booked via negotiated rate between BA and the cruise ship operators or the wholesale tour operators. Yes you are right about names flexibility. I am thinking more of terms of ticket condition.

corporate-wage-slave

There is one rather significant factor here: easyJet only gives out 6 to 9 month availability on their flights. There is a strong possibility that BA had a monopoly at the time, at least for public fares, and therefore charged top whack accordingly - or easyJet just released their fares and BA had not at that point matched easyJet. Particularly out of LGW, BA sharply adjust their fares within 48 hours of easyJet opening their booking window, and tend to keep it in step until a few weeks before departure. At that point existing loadings and a forecast heavily based on the previous year's actuals seems to start crowding out easyJet fare matching. Indeed it's a well known canard that buying flights early saves money, it rarely does, it provides confidence for those who have to travel and they tend to be prepared to pay more rather than less. On shorthaul the best time to buy tickets is about 6 to 8 weeks before departure, though there are some exceptions.

On group ticketing, each airline seems to have their own motive. For BA at least you won't save much if any money, but what you get is the ability to fix the current market fare but change the names of the travellers and/or slightly change the number of travellers. If the current market fare is high, well you can see what happened.

Now for this particular time window easyJet released their fares on 23 March 2017. BA should have been matching approx 25 March. Again it depends on the route and the precise date of booking, but I suspect that had the booking been made later on, market forces would have led to lower fares on both airlines.

Calchas

If the flexibility isn't necessary to the group, then BA are selling the wrong product.

HIDDY

Why not tell us which route it is and dates? With more info we might be able to give you reasons for the price difference.

subject2load

Yes ... a TR would be interesting - especially as they have been BA loyalists so far.

As you say, no onboard 'service' from either of the two carriers, and so given the huge differential in quotes the decision to go with easyjet was pretty much a no-brainer.

The only potential deal-breaker could have been the matter of departure airports and preference among the group members - but in this case even that wasn't a factor (and, I imagine, with that sort of price gap, wouldn't have been enough to swing it back to BA anyway)