Hold Flights
Feb 20, 2020, 1:04 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2019
Programs: BA
Posts: 137
Hold Flights
Hey all,
Out of curiosity on the BA site if it says 1 seat remaining at a price if I pay the £10 to hold the flight prices will it then show the new seat price straight away to anyone else?
Thanks
Out of curiosity on the BA site if it says 1 seat remaining at a price if I pay the £10 to hold the flight prices will it then show the new seat price straight away to anyone else?
Thanks
Feb 20, 2020, 3:02 pm
#4
Join Date: May 2010
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold, AF/KL Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 830
On a few occasions when my wife and I book tickets under a seperate booking and there is a "n seat left" it changes immediately to either a new price or "n-1 seat left". There was a big clamp down on false marketing / pressure selling so i think they have to mean what they write.
Feb 20, 2020, 3:42 pm
#5
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,819
If every stays the same, yes the hold booking takes one - the last - seat out of inventory. But here's the rub: nothing stays the same for long in aviation. So let's say that bucket goes to zero briefly, the revenue management computer could say:
- we are shifting seats quickly so we are going to go up a bucket / fares
- actually it took longer than expected to sell that last seat, we butter put out some more seats in the same bucket.
- alternatively it could say "that was according to plan", so we will put another 1 seat in that inventory bucket and see what happens.
- regardless of any of the above, buckets and fare basis have overlaps, the cheapest N will often be cheaper than an expensive O. So the first scenario above is fully consistent with fares going down!
Bit late at night to be going into too much detail, so here is the full and accurate answer: maybe.
- we are shifting seats quickly so we are going to go up a bucket / fares
- actually it took longer than expected to sell that last seat, we butter put out some more seats in the same bucket.
- alternatively it could say "that was according to plan", so we will put another 1 seat in that inventory bucket and see what happens.
- regardless of any of the above, buckets and fare basis have overlaps, the cheapest N will often be cheaper than an expensive O. So the first scenario above is fully consistent with fares going down!
Bit late at night to be going into too much detail, so here is the full and accurate answer: maybe.
Feb 20, 2020, 3:47 pm
#6
Join Date: Apr 2017
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 1,387
All other things staying the same, that is what should happen. Of course if BA reprice the route, or another held seat is released, or someone cancels a seat or there is a glitch or, or, or then all bets are off.
Edit: beaten to it by the comprehensive CWS reply.
Edit: beaten to it by the comprehensive CWS reply.
Feb 20, 2020, 9:00 pm
#7
Moderator: British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: TPA/ABZ
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold. GGL/CCR.
Posts: 13,250
A very comprehensive response but you missed the chance to use 'ceteris paribus' for a second time on the BA forum in the same day.
As stated it's a really complex system but I would expect it to remove the last seat for at least a moment while the algorithms do their thing. After that one could make a case for a variety of things happening.
As stated it's a really complex system but I would expect it to remove the last seat for at least a moment while the algorithms do their thing. After that one could make a case for a variety of things happening.
Feb 20, 2020, 10:16 pm
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Plat, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
Posts: 30,536
In addition to cws’s excellent summary of why ‘everything stays the same’ is a useless concept in aviation, I would add that so is “everyone else”.
in short, the op being offered, say, N, on his search doesn’t mean that O is not available. It may be there for people who started their journey elsewhere, have a different connection, another place of issue, a different return etc etc.
so there is a double Ceteris paribus (request granted!
) condition here: it is about everything staying the same and “everyone else” so long as their search is exactly similar to that of the op which is another big if...
in short, the op being offered, say, N, on his search doesn’t mean that O is not available. It may be there for people who started their journey elsewhere, have a different connection, another place of issue, a different return etc etc.
so there is a double Ceteris paribus (request granted!
) condition here: it is about everything staying the same and “everyone else” so long as their search is exactly similar to that of the op which is another big if...