Price of a plane ticket:

[speeder]

Decided to hop back home to LA this weekend from France, check out the difference in these last minute prices. Of course, I grabbed the Norwegian one, (non stop, no baggage fees, Boeing plane, Norwegian flight attendants), but why on earth would someone book the AF flight?

And the AF flight is far from the most expensive, they go up to $7k or something. I don't comprende'.

[masraum]

Wow!

I'm guessing the Norwegian Air plane wasn't full and they were just looking to fill a seat.

But then, they others may not have been full and were just looking to gouge someone buying last minute.

I can tell you that if you decide to look at flights and are pricing flights for a vacation, so you've got a few days leeway on exact days of travel, so you do 5-10 searches all on the same airline trying to find the cheapest fairs. THat airline will jack the prices up because they realize that you're searching. I've seen it first hand. Do a search and find ticket prices around $300, do 4-6 searches and the prices will jump to $600 or more. Clear your browser cache on each search and you can search 20 times without the price changing. Friggin' Wankers!

[Kraftwerk]

Airlines don't operate like "normal'' businesses, there are so any strange tactics and reasons for this. What I don't know could fill a book.
What I am guessing here.. is these flights are fully booked so they will have you buy a 'business class-priced ticket' , although you will surely sit in coach, while a long-term customer or a customer with long, beautiful legs will be 'bumped' to business and make a seat available for you in coach. With this the airline looses nothing and makes one of their loyal customers / famous customers/ customer from a very good family, happy. Everybody wins, sort of. Who would buy a $3,500 ticket for coach? Well someone will or has in the past, for sure.
I read somewhere that TWA didn't actually MAKE a profit for the first 40 years or so.
That was before they figured all this crap out I guess.
Just don't fly United!

[drcoastline]

Originally Posted by Kraftwerk

Airlines don't operate like "normal'' businesses, there are so any strange tactics and reasons for this. What I don't know could fill a book.
What I am guessing here.. is these flights are fully booked so they will have you buy a 'business class-priced ticket' , although you will surely sit in coach, while a long-term customer or a customer with long, beautiful legs will be 'bumped' to business and make a seat available for you in coach. With this the airline looses nothing and makes one of their loyal customers / famous customers/ customer from a very good family, happy. Everybody wins, sort of. Who would buy a $3,500 ticket for coach? Well someone will or has in the past, for sure.
I read somewhere that TWA didn't actually MAKE a profit for the first 40 years or so.
That was before they figured all this crap out I guess.
Just don't fly United!

I always get bumped to business or first class

[Icemaster]

Not sure what you're used to, $3500 isnt' biz class range. Double that and add some and you're starting to get close.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by Icemaster

Not sure what you're used to, $3500 isnt' biz class range. Double that and add some and you're starting to get close.

Yes, full fare business class round trip on AF is about $6-7k, at least last time I looked, (long time ago). So the $3500 one way sounds about right. I'm assuming that the one on Travelocity is coach.

[Icemaster]

Ah, sorry - missed the one way part. My last trip to Heathrow ran about $8200 RT, that included routing back through CDG on Delta/AF, so your assumption is spot on.

[Bill Douglas]

What are you doing in France?

[JavaBrewer]

I would happily strap myself to the belly and pay $500 RT if that means I have $5k more to spend on a hotel and dinner. I have almost a million miles under my belt and would never pay for business class let alone first.

[Rick Lee]

I got stranded in Frankfurt once, trying to fly home standby. After 40 hours I decided to just buy a last minute seat - $270 on AF from FRA to IAD. Sure was nice to sit in that plane after a few nights on a bench in the airport.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I got stranded in Frankfurt once, trying to fly home standby. After 40 hours I decided to just buy a last minute seat - $270 on AF from FRA to IAD. Sure was nice to sit in that plane after a few nights on a bench in the airport.

Wait...you sat in an airport for 40 hours when a last minute return ticket home was only $270??

I wouldn't have lasted 40 minutes. Unless this story took place 50 years ago when $270 was a lot of $$, I don't get it.

[Holger]

Norwegian is an upcoming airline, flying from more and more new destinations.
We got a very nice price for our vacation in July, non-stop from our town to Malaga in Spain. That was not possible last year.

[motion]

Denis, the pricey fares you posted are likely full Y fares. The discount X,Z,V,T,S, etc fares have sold out and only Y fares remain. A Y fare is a coach fare, but is fully refundable up to shortly before departure, just like a F fare. Company travel agencies buy these fares for employees who often have last minute changes of plans for business reasons. They are more expensive than discount, but if cancellations and changes are often made, they can work out for the company in the long run.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by speeder

Wait...you sat in an airport for 40 hours when a last minute return ticket home was only $270??

I wouldn't have lasted 40 minutes. Unless this story took place 50 years ago when $270 was a lot of $$, I don't get it.

I had no idea it was gonna be that cheap when I started that wait. It was 1999, when $270 was not pocket change to me and my friend, whose mom worked at United, told me I'd have no problem getting home standby. Lesson learned.

[Kraftwerk]

funny, I got stranded in Frankfurt in '99 too...