UA TATL Pricing Change?
 

I've been trying to book a flight from the US to Austria at the end of May - best RT business class fares are over $8k! Never seen such ridiculous fares in the past three years...

All the flights go through FRA and MUC - any suggestions on alternate routings to get the cost a little more reasonable? Previously I could reliably get this routing for $3.5k - $5k max... I know its the spring travel season but something seems off... Originating airports could be BUF,SYR,ALB,ROC and arrival airport needs to be GRZ. Maybe the flights are all full but I really doubt that LOL!

Try pricing just the TATL segments, e.g. EWR/IAD-FRA/MUC to see how those price and then determine whether your US departure or EU segments are somehow jacking the price.

It may simply be that with capacity cuts and significantly increased demand, discounted premium is a dodo bird during this season.

I've been flying this route for years and never seen such pricing... Will just keep checking or have to fly another airline I guess...

EDIT: Actually found R space leaving from US on the 27th - Might actually purchase Economy and then upgrade to business. R space on the return still not available though and can't farelock due to LH segments - funny that their pricing strategy might encourage me to spend less and upgrade - but maybe that's what they want!

Even coach fares seem higher than ever. I was hoping to take a trip in September, but the prices appear way out of line.

And not only that, but it appears that United is using a bigger font with their quoted fares, making them seem even bigger.

Agreed. Thinking of taking my family to London in July, and was bowled over by the ~$2K Y fares.

:p

Maybe it's to inspire shock and awe?

It certainly has - Along with disgust....

On ITA I am seeing ROC-YYZ-FRA-GRZ on AC for $5900 in the last week of May.

I don't know how convenient it would be for you to drive to YYZ, but I am seeing fares in the $5700 CAD range on AC, LH and OS. Much cheaper if you book BA (as an AA codeshare) ... $4400 CAD.

Thanks that's a viable option. The flights from upstate NY to YYZ are notoriously unreliable - so it may be best just to drive to YYZ. Thanks again.

NP ... glad to help.

BTW the flights from ORD to YYZ can be pretty bad as well. :rolleyes:

I checked YOW and YUL as well. $5100 CAD for AC and LH via MUC. I do not know the feasibility for you to get to either airport but the flights themselves are probably better (new business class on LH).

This isn't a UA specific issue.

For flights from NYC to VIE in late August, the pricing falls into the following categories:

The UA/LH/AC and BA/AA/IB JVs price their flights almost identically - 1-stop flights are $5,500, the UA/LH/AC JV has a non-stop option for $7k

The DL/VS JV is significantly more expensive for their 1-stop flights (DL's price is more than UA's non-stop!)

There are several second-tier airlines that offer more competitive pricing - OS and LO for example.

Apparently this is the pricing that the industry believes the market will tolerate for this time window. I'm simply not seeing this as a "pricing change" by UA - TATL pricing changes on a very regular basis, at least in the 15 years I've been buying tickets on a very regular basis.

Well I paid $3,500 four weeks ago and it's been around that for the past few years - so it seems different to me...

Could this be an effect of less inventory being available in the wake of the recent fare war?

Hard to tell but I thought those fares started in July - I'm looking in late May...

Well I hope they are full. The last few flights I booked were expensive and there were a lot of empty seats.

Hard to tell from seat maps, but I honestly don't think so - here's the buckets from the flight from ORD to Munich on May 27: Available Cabins: F3, FN3, A3, ON0, O0, J9, JN9, C9, D9, Z9, ZN9, P9, PN9, R9, RN9, IN0, I0, Y9, YN9, B9, M9, E9, U9, H9, HN9, Q9, V9, W9, S9, T9, L5, K1, G0, N0, XN0, X0

I wouldn't have created this thread if the price came back at only 50% more - but the fare has basically doubled - and I typically book 4-6 weeks out, and have for years... Loads don't look any heavier than usual and UA has added capacity TATL - would not have expected pricing to double...

Just for kicks I looked at same dates for TPAC to NRT - same cost as usual $3,500 in business class. Something isn't right with TATL pricing...