Outrageous US West Coast to BKK prices

[shygye]

The blown oil well in the Gulf was an exploratory well, not a producing well. So that won't affect oil prices.

 

[allistar]

With 25 years at NWA, you should at least have gotten a lifetime airline pass to fly standby for free. I knew a lady whose husband had worked for United an she was still using the pass well into her eighties. It seems like the cheapest r/t is between BBK and either LAX or SFO. Maybe, you could buy separate tickets from the west coast to Boston?

[Hugh_Hoy]

A number of things you mentioned are all in play. First, summer airfares are always higher (June, July, August). Fares will go back down for flights beginning in Sept. (Kind of interesting: historically, summer fares to the LOS go up, but it's low season for hotels in the LOS and those prices go down.) I think a lot of it has to due with students returning to their homes and family vacations. Also, some flights have been chopped off the schedules, making fewer seats available. Even last year, this was being done by EVA on a day-to-day basis. For instance, EVA had two flights departing early AM from LAX to Taipei within about 30 minutes of each other. They would cancel one of the flights and put everybody on one plane and scrap the other flight. EVA has also cancelled at least one flight from BKK to Taipei that used to fly daily. (Now, flies that flight number about 3x per week.) So, with fewer seats available, due to chopping off flights and airline consolidation, they can boost the fares. Makes sense to me if I was selling tickets for a living.

 

HH

[TroyinEwa/Perv]

More money is made in international freight that the people in the cabins. So to say they canceled wingtip flights to consolidate them doesn't hold water. Also, the plane had to be in a certain place to make the next trip. Without it, that would mean canceling that trip and any others till the plane was re-positioned. Crew also flys a plane when they get there. They need to be there too.

[USVirgin]

Spot on, IMO (cheese mite)!

 

An overall reduction in transpac capacity. If Eva has been doing it, I can tell you that United, Delta, JAL and others have been doing it as well, without even looking it up. Couple that with regional capacity reductions to specific places, like Bangkok, and there you go. Good way of doing business.

 

Someone earlier posted some good consolidator prices from Thaifly.com , but good luck finding a seat from the US to Bangers at those fares in mid-summer.

 

If I may play the devil's advocate for a moment, there's one other aspect of pricing that comes into play. Suppliers like tour wholesalers and consolidators that give an airline business year-round to a particular destination, such as Thailand, must be given some consideration and have a certain amount of seats blocked for them throughout the year. So, if you're Eva, you better take care of that customer during high season as well, or else they'll go to CI, or whomever, and tell you to fuck off.

 

But, more and more, airlines are going toward direct sales and telling the suppliers to fuck off. That's another reason why I think we're seeing less deals on the internet than before. The trend started on the Transatlantic market, years ago, and is beginning to pick up speed on the Transpacific and within Asia.

[USVirgin]

More money is made in international freight that the people in the cabins. So to say they canceled wingtip flights to consolidate them doesn't hold water. Also, the plane had to be in a certain place to make the next trip. Without it, that would mean canceling that trip and any others till the plane was re-positioned. Crew also flys a plane when they get there. They need to be there too.

 

Troy, I remember distinctly that PAL used to do this about 5 years ago when I was flying on standby between LAX-MNL often. You had to show up at MNL for the first flight, in case the second wasn't departing at all. Cathay Pacific also had a couple of flights leaving LAX for HKG an hour or so apart, and I'll bet they've done it as well. Way cheaper to strand crew in hotels than fly and empty plane and, btw, no crew in, no crew out.

 

Edit: I mean there is no aircraft or crew positioning involved, so it's not complicated. The plane leaves its base or it doesn't.

 

[TroyinEwa/Perv]

I won't say it doesn't happen but routinely and regularaly........no. Like I said, the freight it hauls is way more cash than the money the people are paying for a ticket. The belly of each plane will be full of freight on each. So they can't put one's freight on the other.

 

Also, you're forgetting the plane has a routing. If it doesn't go from point A to B, then it can't get to C and beyond. Not always do they just go back and forth.

 

And if they are canceling them for this reason, somebody in the planning and routing departments or whoever makes their skeds needs a new position. To have wingtip flights means there is a demand for seats. To routinely cancel one for lack of customers tells me somebody didn't do their homework. I can't believe that upper management would like to daily see an airplane sitting around doing nothing. They don't make money that way.

 

Again, yes it happens but for people to use this excuse everytime a flight is canceled is silly.

[kamui]

A question: Could it be that the inflated ticket prices USA-BKK are an US specific development?

 

Because the flights from Germany during the upcoming holiday season seem to be reasonable. They might be a little bit higher than last year, but this year I still paid less than before financial crisis.

 

 

 

 

[USVirgin]

A question: Could it be that the inflated ticket prices USA-BKK are an US specific development?

 

Because the flights from Germany during the upcoming holiday season seem to be reasonable. They might be a little bit higher than last year, but this year I still paid less than before financial crisis.

 

I think so, because BKK is not a great hub, or connecting point, from America to elsewhere in Southeast Asia or even South Asia (it could be, or would be, if Thai Air had the money and smarts to rival SQ).

 

With lots of non-stops from Europe going to BKK and connecting to points beyond, I think you guys in Europe are benefiting from the hub aspect of Bangkok. Those flights won't be cancelled in a hurry.

[USVirgin]

I won't say it doesn't happen but routinely and regularaly........no. Like I said, the freight it hauls is way more cash than the money the people are paying for a ticket. The belly of each plane will be full of freight on each. So they can't put one's freight on the other.

 

Also, you're forgetting the plane has a routing. If it doesn't go from point A to B, then it can't get to C and beyond. Not always do they just go back and forth.

 

And if they are canceling them for this reason, somebody in the planning and routing departments or whoever makes their skeds needs a new position. To have wingtip flights means there is a demand for seats. To routinely cancel one for lack of customers tells me somebody didn't do their homework. I can't believe that upper management would like to daily see an airplane sitting around doing nothing. They don't make money that way.

 

Again, yes it happens but for people to use this excuse everytime a flight is canceled is silly.

 

Troy, I think you are suffering from major US airlineosis.

 

It's quite simple to fly an airplane from point A to B and back, and is what airlines do when they have a new product, such as the A380.