Purchase airfare...foreign currency exploiting variances?
 

Hi,

I have read a fair amount of information regarding purchase of airfare on other than your home currency; thus a potential cost savings. I have searched FT for further information as how exactly to do this. Is there a thread that I have missed?

Thanks.

Steve

Simply purchasing in another currency doesn't change the cost of your flights - if anything it will increase the cost due to FX rates. Airlines are as aware anyone else of exchange rates.

I presume what you are referring to is starting your journey from a different country, for example Sri Lanka (lots of cheap flights ex CMB), it simply requires you to go to the country specific site for the airline you wish to fly and proceeding as you normally would. For example booking a QR flight ex CMB you will be paying in LKR, rather than USD or Qatar Riyals.

I think you've mis-understood what you've read. Airfares are priced based on the departure airport in the vast majority.
Where are you based and plan to depart from?

an example:

http://www.theflightdeal.com/2016/10...ing-all-taxes/

(go through Norwegian UK site instead of Norwegian USA, get charged in british pounds which makes it cheaper)

272GBP on UK site (USD $332)
versus USD $418 on USA site

unfortunately, there isn't an automated way to find fares via this method. it's trial+error, or get alerted by other people/sites

This is the only one I know of that exists consistently. It's even cheaper if you use the Norwegian language site and pay in NOK. The navigation is the same, just walk through it in English and then pull up a new tab in Norwegian and you can get it done.

Flights from South Africa are very cheap at the moment due to the ZAR. Deals ex-UK and ex-EU have been popping up as those two currencies exhibit significant volatility against the dollar.

Ex-ICN is also one that is typically a good deal. Ex-CAI was for a while. Check out the Mileage Run and Premium Deals Forums for some good info

It's not the currency that is important but the point of sale. Pick the website of the country you are flying from or OTA and the prices can differ quite drastically.

VPN maybe?

A few years ago oneWorld round-the-world tickets were far less expensive if one bought one's ticket in, and departed from, Sri Lanka than from anywhere else in the world. Then it became Egypt. (I don't know where it is now, but it's probably someplace.) There were FT threads discussing travel agents in those places who would buy RTW tickets on behalf of Yanks and Europeans who would find a cheap flight or an award to Colombo or Cairo to begin their journey.

So: this ain't new, and it's all marketing. I don't pay the same for a Starbucks latte in Boston and London, either - even if I use the same Starbucks card, or the same app on the same phone, to pay for them. It's not a currency issue.

Doesn't work for correctly programmed interfaces. Most airlines websites determine the POS via the point of departure. That said, some airlines work like regional OTAs and you could exploit the price difference resulting from different POS.