BA pricing. How does this work?

[Brandane]

Just been doing a bit of searching for a holiday in January, to get a bit of sun on my back before the Scottish summer sets in!
On the BA website: Two weeks at the Clarion Inn, Lake Buena Vista, Orlando; looks good at £835 with return flights from Glasgow via Gatwick.
I got timed out while I read reviews on Trip Advisor, so went back and searched again. Only this time I forgot to change the departure airport from the London default, and the price came back as £967 .
I have double checked, and it appears correct - the same dates; same destination etc.; yet it costs an extra £132 to fly from Gatwick! That's on the same flight I would be joining after flying down from Glasgow . Very strange...

I think I might have talked myself out of going in any case, but still thinking about it. Did the same thing last January and took a bike with me. Enjoyed it, but not sure I want to do the same thing again.

 

[Levo-Lon]

My Dad and his wife have a week all inclusive in Portugal 29th to the 5th for about 400 quid all in..im tempted to try it myself..i may even tell the wife...

 

[screenman]

Southerners have loads of money so they pay more

 

[User33236]

It's often the case with split / multiple leg journeys that you get cheaper prices. I flew to Dubai from Manchester a few years ago via CDG on Air France. Thinking I might save a bit I looked up cheap flights from MAN to CDG and then the Air France flight on CDG to DXB. Turned out CDG-DXB was more expensive than MAN-CDG-DXB.

A colleague, who used to work in a travel agents, people prefer to fly direct routes and are charged for the privilege of doing so. Those prepared to break up journeys save some money. Often works on trains too.

 

[Fab Foodie]

It's often the case with split / multiple leg journeys that you get cheaper prices. I flew to Dubai from Manchester a few years ago via CDG on Air France. Thinking I might save a bit I looked up cheap flights from MAN to CDG and then the Air France flight on CDG to DXB. Turned out CDG-DXB was more expensive than MAN-CDG-DXB.

A colleague, who used to work in a travel agents, people prefer to fly direct routes and are charged for the privilege of doing so. Those prepared to break up journeys save some. Often works on trains too.

When I used to fly a lot to the states, we also booked an internal return flight. This often halved the translatlantic flight costs. We just didn't show for the internal flights. There are all kinds of ruses like back to back ticketing to reduce the costs.

 

[Dayvo]

I flew BA from Oslo to Goa return last winter for about £520. I had intended to fly from London so I could have visited family whilst in England, but the price, with BA, from London to Goa return was £720!

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Lad at work has just come back from Los Angeles, he flew via Amsterdam for the out flight and Paris for the return, he said he saved about £300 against flying direct.

 

[ColinJ]

A colleague, who used to work in a travel agents, people prefer to fly direct routes and are charged for the privilege of doing so. Those prepared to break up journeys save some money. Often works on trains too.

True, and even without breaking the journeys. I saved £20 once by buying 6 single rail tickets rather one return ticket - for the same trains!

 

[User33236]

For the trip we went for Mrs SG's 40th we flew MAN-EWR-LAS then LAS-LAX-HNL as few days later. On the way back was HNL-SFO followed a few days later by SFO-EWR-MAN.

There was the option to go MAN-LAS, LAS-HNL of the way out (return flight could not be direct) but this involved mixing in different airlines and would have cost an extra £1,800!!

 

[swee'pea99]

My sis once had a surreal conversation after phoning for a one-way rail ticket, discovering during the call that a return would actually be cheaper. Obviously she then asked for a return ticket, only to be challenged with 'You're not going to use the return half, are you?' Intrigued and amused, my sis decided to see how far this would go. 'How do you know?' she asked. 'Well, you said you wanted a single.' 'Maybe I've changed my mind." "I don't believe you have." "What's it to you whether I use the return ticket or not?' 'I can't sell you a return ticket if you are are only going one way.' 'Maybe I'm not. What if I'm not?' And so on. After a minute or two of this madness, my sister told the woman she was an idiot, rang off, redialled, and bought a return.

 

[nickyboy]

It's all about adding a leg at the start.

I fly to Asia a lot. If you fly with a carrier from London direct to somewhere in Asia it is typically about 50% more than taking some flight from UK to another city then transferring. I usually fly Manchester - Amsterdam/Paris. For a business class flight this saves about £1000 and only adds a couple of hours in both directions

Quite a lot of passengers like to just get on a plane and then get off at their destination. But you pay a hefty premium for this

Same thing happens in Mainland Europe. I know Dutch residents who take a train to an airport in Germany to get a flight back to Amsterdam and then transfer onto the flight they really want to catch. The two leg fare is much less than the single leg

 

[swansonj]

When I used to fly a lot to the states, we also booked an internal return flight. This often halved the translatlantic flight costs. We just didn't show for the internal flights. There are all kinds of ruses like back to back ticketing to reduce the costs.

We are contemplating doing exactly this - book but not use an internal flight - for a US trip next year. Did you ever have any comeback, for instance, US immigration challenging a discrepancy with the airline data?

 

[Fab Foodie]

We are contemplating doing exactly this - book but not use an internal flight - for a US trip next year. Did you ever have any comeback, for instance, US immigration challenging a discrepancy with the airline data?

Nope, but that was pre 9/11. But if you' never check-in and are a no-show I can't see the issue. However, I would check with somebody in 'the industry'.

 

[Brandane]

We are contemplating doing exactly this - book but not use an internal flight - for a US trip next year. Did you ever have any comeback, for instance, US immigration challenging a discrepancy with the airline data?

I have heard (or read), but cannot recall where, that if you "no-show" for the first leg of your journey then they will cancel your ticket and won't allow you to travel on any subsequent legs. This may of course be out of date information, or possibly just plain (plane? ) wrong. Best not taking the chance without making sure though.....

 

[andytheflyer]

I have heard (or read), but cannot recall where, that if you "no-show" for the first leg of your journey then they will cancel your ticket and won't allow you to travel on any subsequent legs. This may of course be out of date information, or possibly just plain (plane? ) wrong. Best not taking the chance without making sure though.....

That's true - you have to show up and travel for the first booked sector.