Guest Posted June 19, 2002 Report Share Posted June 19, 2002 I just tried to book a ticket BKK-> seattle or sfo on the 26th. Ava, China Air, Japan Air, northwest, korea, etc... FULL. Ok, fine, delay my departure a bit... 27th full, 28th full, 29th,........ OK now were at July 6th. Everybody totally full. OK, screw it I guess I'm not visiting the family over 4th of July weekend this year. Contrast to this: Last year I bought a ticket on China Airlines on July 3rd, flew out on July 4th on a 70% full airline. Anybody know what's up? Agents tell me it's the peak travel season for travel to USA, returning students, etc, but I don't see how this could change so dramatically in one year for the same time period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadaBing Posted June 19, 2002 Report Share Posted June 19, 2002 Summer is always a " Peak season " for air travel , factor in 911 , no one traveling during x-mas / new years , they are all making up for it this summer , go figure ??? BadaBing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 19, 2002 Report Share Posted June 19, 2002 It's very simple, after 911 very few people travelled on the USA routes. ALL airlines cut back on the number of flights. Example, THAI were flying with half/quarter full aircraft. THAI cut back from a daily flight to 5 times a week and then to 2 or 3 times. All spare capacity for THAI was put onto European routes which were booming and were trying to lease extra aircraft for those routes. Confidence in the USAhas returned but there is no capacity to carry the passengers. Result Full aircraft. This also gives the airlines a chance to up prices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 19, 2002 Report Share Posted June 19, 2002 I had a look in and while seats are very scarce on routes from Asian hubs to West Coast USA and 2 weeks in advance seems to be the minimum, there's still a fair bit of last-minute availablity on routes to Honolulu. Guessing that these routes never got the axe -- maybe because the routes remained profitable? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJsushi Posted June 20, 2002 Report Share Posted June 20, 2002 The flights aren't actually full. There is availability albeit higher fare classess. When direct flights don't work sometimes trying creative routing through SIN,HKG,LAX, SFO, DEN, etc will help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJsushi Posted June 20, 2002 Report Share Posted June 20, 2002 I just bought a ticket LAX-BKK last week, dept July 1-8 for $735 on TG. UA my primary carrier wanted $1050 with no upgrade availability and CX charged $1208 for an H-class fare. Almost bought the Cathay ticket, sometimes you can't beat that 10:30am BKK arrival and 18:35 departure! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shygye Posted June 20, 2002 Report Share Posted June 20, 2002 Maybe World Cup related. I just checked on Expedia for BKK <-> SEA with 6/26 departure and 7/6 return. It spit out NW for about $1400 USD connecting through LAX. UAL was also listed at a higher price. Perhaps you need to alter your return date instead of your departure date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 20, 2002 Report Share Posted June 20, 2002 IMHO those online travel search tools suck and don't (usually) get you half as good a deal as a consolidator would. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJsushi Posted June 20, 2002 Report Share Posted June 20, 2002 I agree. My fare was bought at a consolidator. Online it would have cost me $1050 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shygye Posted June 20, 2002 Report Share Posted June 20, 2002 I checked Expedia to see if seats are available for 6/26. Perhaps all the consolidator allotment has all been sold and that is why the travel agent told him nothing was available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.