Rocking up at the Airport and Buying Last Min Cheap Empty Seat at the Check In Desk


I don't know how they come up with the numbers. I flew with saudia airlines last July to Kuala Lumpur and it cost £525 each return. This year it's over three times that price around £1590. I expected an increase maybe up to 20 or even 30%. But 150% is just taking the piss big time.
300%
 
Flights on scheduled services get more expensive in the last 24 hours as airlines know that anyone who absolutely needs to fly on that flight will be willing to pay a premium. The airlines would rather fly with an empty seat and hope that someone will turn up at the last minute and spend 10x the normal price.

Package operators are more likely to have late availability deals. A few years ago I was made redundant with immediate effect so went straight home and booked an AI holiday to Turkey leaving at 6am the next morning for less than £300 all in. You just can't be picky about destination or hotel.
£676 for AI to Lara Beach tomorrow. It is school holidays like, so will be inflated, but that’s canny I reckon.
 
I don't know how they come up with the numbers. I flew with saudia airlines last July to Kuala Lumpur and it cost £525 each return. This year it's over three times that price around £1590. I expected an increase maybe up to 20 or even 30%. But 150% is just taking the piss big time.
Random search in sept tells me £670 from LHR (direct MAL) £800 from the shit tip (1 stop) 🤔
 
I don't know how they come up with the numbers. I flew with saudia airlines last July to Kuala Lumpur and it cost £525 each return. This year it's over three times that price around £1590. I expected an increase maybe up to 20 or even 30%. But 150% is just taking the piss big time.

1) Increased demand from last year
2) Airlines not yet back to full number of planes flying. More people trying to book fewer seats.
3) Increased fuel prices
4) Russian/Ukrainian airspace is closed so a lot of Asian flights have longer routes = more fuel

Mind you, I don't think I'd fly Saudi even if it was free.
 
Last summer took a week unpaid before summer break but had already booked. (Was gonna try to bike down to pre-season). Looking for flights a week before the holidays on the day i finished work (at 15:30). 02:30 £264. 19:30 £929. Its a fücking rip-off.
 
Still get it in July for £1k from NCL if you up for a 2nd leg Jetstar experience.
I was talking earlier about one airline I'd used charging 3 times what it charged last year for this year.
This year I can get it around £1100 one stop, flying with Emirates or Etihad.
I can get it cheaper but I don't want multiple stops using more than one airline and spending up to 44 hrs getting there.
One journey I saw on skiplagged you had to go via Italy and then change airports in the country for the next flight. No thanks I'd rather pay more.
 
Last summer took a week unpaid before summer break but had already booked. (Was gonna try to bike down to pre-season). Looking for flights a week before the holidays on the day i finished work (at 15:30). 02:30 £264. 19:30 £929. Its a fücking rip-off.

More people want to fly at 19:30 and 02:30. If they were the same price then everyone would book the evening flight leaving the one in the middle of the night empty. It's all about managing demand and loading levels.
 
1) Increased demand from last year
2) Airlines not yet back to full number of planes flying. More people trying to book fewer seats.
3) Increased fuel prices
4) Russian/Ukrainian airspace is closed so a lot of Asian flights have longer routes = more fuel

Mind you, I don't think I'd fly Saudi even if it was free.
The flight doesn't go anywhere near those airspaces.
The COVID problems would have been worse a year ago.
When I booked last year I had practically the whole plane to choose a seat. That was three months before. Even just a few weeks before departure I looked to see if it was full and it was far from full.
The fuel cost will put the price up but I wouldn't have thought to the extent I'm seeing.
I think I'm looking too early. I booked last year 3 months before flying and prices were ok. I'll try again in a month or two.
 
I don't know how they come up with the numbers. I flew with saudia airlines last July to Kuala Lumpur and it cost £525 each return. This year it's over three times that price around £1590. I expected an increase maybe up to 20 or even 30%. But 150% is just taking the piss big time.
What dates are you looking at?
 
What dates are you looking at?
I don't know where we're going yet.
The son is getting married in Jakarta because that's where his GF is from. The wedding has been cancelled two years running because of Indonesia travel restrictions, but should go ahead this year 29th July.
If it doesn't go ahead we'll go to Kuala Lumpur where he lives to see him and spend a few weeks over there. Which is what we did last year when the wedding was cancelled
So hopefully it's jakarta and we have a window of about 4 days to fly there from the 22nd July to about the 26th.
If it's KL we'll go later in the school holidays so I'll have a better choice of flights.
 
It really isn't a scam. It is the best way a business can maximise it's income. It can also mean very cheap deals.

If the airlines fix the pricing between them then that is a scam.

Price fixing is illegal (unless part of an alliance with cross-ticketing) but one airline dynamically lowering their prices to match a competitor isn't.
 
More likely to charge you a fortune for last minute flights as everyone now does dynamic pricing. Best bet is to go on Skyscanner website and enter ‘Everywhere’ in the destination field. My daughter does it all the time and has had return flights to France, Germany and Spain for between £9 and £16..
Just had a look and can get to lanzarote Fri to Monday in March for 62 quid return.
Tempting
 
I don't know where we're going yet.
The son is getting married in Jakarta because that's where his GF is from. The wedding has been cancelled two years running because of Indonesia travel restrictions, but should go ahead this year 29th July.
If it doesn't go ahead we'll go to Kuala Lumpur where he lives to see him and spend a few weeks over there. Which is what we did last year when the wedding was cancelled
So hopefully it's jakarta and we have a window of about 4 days to fly there from the 22nd July to about the 26th.
If it's KL we'll go later in the school holidays so I'll have a better choice of flights.
Just checking it wasn't the Hajj.

I used to fly 4x a year between New York and London and the price ramped up 1st July and back down again on 1st September. Every year £300 went on a return for two months then dropped off again. So it could be a seasonal thing
 
Just checking it wasn't the Hajj.

I used to fly 4x a year between New York and London and the price ramped up 1st July and back down again on 1st September. Every year £300 went on a return for two months then dropped off again. So it could be a seasonal thing
We have to go in the school holidays because of the wife's job so that limits when we go. Prices are currently very high from the 21st July till the start of August. If the wedding was a week later it would give us a bigger travel window. The son is a teacher in KL and their summer holiday is weeks earlier than ours. August would be better for us but not for him as he's back at work mid August. I just need a definite wedding date then I can sort something out for flights and accommodation.
 

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