What a con!

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vernon

Harder than Ronnie Pickering
Location
Meanwood, Leeds
A pal living near Vancouver suggested that I'd like to fly over for a visit as he reckons the flights are cheap at around £450 return.

Not a bad idea I thought but not this year as the summer holidays are all booked up.

Out of curiosity, I visited the web site of the airline that he suggested and found that the air fares were closer to £400 each way.

No so, says pal and quotes me fares for a given set of dates that undercut the prices that I found.

I log back on and look at the identical flights and they are £459 one way purchased here in the UK here as opposed to £259 if purchased in America.

Other fares have a similar mark up.

What's going on here?
 
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chillyuk

Guest
It was the same with the railways when I lived in East Germany before reunification. A single fare from Liverpool Street to Dessau, inclusive of Harwich- Hook of Holland ferry, was £62. The same journey in reverse, from Germany to UK was less than £30.
 
OP
OP
vernon

vernon

Harder than Ronnie Pickering
Location
Meanwood, Leeds
I don't know how it can be justified. Same booking agent, same aircraft, same times. There's clearly an IP address detector on the web site which then quotes according to geographic location of the enquirer.
 

Mycroft

New Member
vernon said:
I don't know how it can be justified. Same booking agent, same aircraft, same times. There's clearly an IP address detector on the web site which then quotes according to geographic location of the enquirer.

if so has anyone used an ip spoofer successfully and saved a packet?

this info would be gold to most surely?
 
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vernon

vernon

Harder than Ronnie Pickering
Location
Meanwood, Leeds
First you need to know that there is a differential that makes IP spoofing worthwhile.

I'd not have been aware of the price difference had my pal not supplied me with conflicting information.

The easy solution for me is to get my pal to purchase the tickets in America.
 

Mycroft

New Member
vernon said:
First you need to know that there is a differential that makes IP spoofing worthwhile.

I'd not have been aware of the price difference had my pal not supplied me with conflicting information.

The easy solution for me is to get my pal to purchase the tickets in America.

maybe i'm misunderstanding you? have you not already pointed out the differential in terms of savings?

My first thoughts were to get your friend to buy the tickets :laugh: but I was thinking more of traveling to countries where I know no-one.

I'm just not ready to book anything at the moment (or this year at all TBH) in order to try it myself, so was wondering if someone else had, successfully?
 

rich p

ridiculous old lush
Location
Brighton
vernon said:
First you need to know that there is a differential that makes IP spoofing worthwhile.

I'd not have been aware of the price difference had my pal not supplied me with conflicting information.

The easy solution for me is to get my pal to purchase the tickets in America.

Will the site allow him to purchase the tickets the outward journey from a foreign country or is 2 singles?
 
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vernon

vernon

Harder than Ronnie Pickering
Location
Meanwood, Leeds
rich p said:
Will the site allow him to purchase the tickets the outward journey from a foreign country or is 2 singles?

We've not investigated further though my pal is of the opinion that he can buy my tickets on the USA at USA prices.

I have vague recollections of something similar being described and that there was a barrier to this sort of saving being made. At the moment I'm not looking at making the journey. It's something for next summer so there's no sense of urgency on my part to find out the nitty gritty of getting a bargain.
 
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vernon

vernon

Harder than Ronnie Pickering
Location
Meanwood, Leeds
Mycroft said:
maybe i'm misunderstanding you? have you not already pointed out the differential in terms of savings?

My first thoughts were to get your friend to buy the tickets :laugh: but I was thinking more of traveling to countries where I know no-one.

I'm just not ready to book anything at the moment (or this year at all TBH) in order to try it myself, so was wondering if someone else had, successfully?

Like I originally said unless you know that it's cheaper buying from the country that you intend to travel to is there any point in spoofing?

I suppose you could initiate a string of prospecting inquiries using a series of spoof IP addresses but I don't have the knowledge or skills to go about it.

I also suspect that there are mechanisms that prevent purchasing tickets from the destination country and having them shipped to a UK address - I have vague recollections of something like this being discussed quite a while ago and that the tickets had to be shipped to an address in the country of purchase.

I might be wrong though.

No matter, the practise stinks.
 

zimzum42

Legendary Member
I've tried to do this before, but the airlines normally charge according the country of origin of the flight, so even if they are being booked in the USA, cos u r starting from the UK u will likely get charged the UK rates.

Good luck trying though, hope you can get it cheaper! It's fairly standard practice though, we are more easily able to afford this in the UK
 

Haitch

Flim Flormally
Location
Netherlands
If Airlines Sold Paint


Customer: Hi. How much is your paint?

Clerk: Well, sir, that all depends on quite a lot of things.

Customer: Can you give me a guess? Is there an average price?

Clerk: Our lowest price is $12 a gallon, and we have 60 different prices up to $200 a gallon.

Customer: What's the difference in the paint?

Clerk: Oh, there isn't any difference; it's all the same paint.

Customer: Well, then I'd like some of that $12 paint.

Clerk: When do you intend to use the paint?

Customer: I want to paint tomorrow. It's my day off.

Clerk: Sir, the paint for tomorrow is the $200 paint.

Customer: When would I have to paint to get the $12 paint?

Clerk: You would have to start very late at night in about 3 weeks. But you will have to agree to start painting before Friday of that week and continue painting until at least Sunday.

Customer: You've got to be *&%^#@* kidding!

Clerk: I'll check and see if we have any paint available.

Customer: You have shelves FULL of paint! I can see it!

Clerk: But it doesn't mean that we have paint available. We sell only a certain number of gallons on any given weekend. Oh, and by the way, the price per gallon just went to $16. We don't have any more $12 paint.

Customer: The price went up as we were talking?

Clerk: Yes, sir. We change the prices and rules hundreds of times a day, and since you haven't actually walked out of the store with your paint yet, we just decided to change. I suggest you purchase your paint as soon as possible. How many gallons do you want?

Customer: Well, maybe five gallons. Make that six, so I'll have enough.

Clerk: Oh no, sir, you can't do that. If you buy paint and don't use it, there are penalties and possible confiscation of the paint you already have.

Customer: WHAT?

Clerk: We can sell enough paint to do your kitchen, bathroom, hall and north bedroom, but if you stop painting before you do the bedroom, you will lose your remaining gallons of paint.

Customer: What does it matter whether I use all the paint? I already paid you for it!

Clerk: We make plans based upon the idea that all our paint is used, every drop. If you don't, it causes us all sorts of problems.

Customer: This is crazy!! I suppose something terrible happens if I don't keep painting until after Saturday night!

Clerk: Oh yes! Every gallon you bought automatically becomes the $200 paint.

Customer: But what are all these, "Paint on sale from $10 a liter" signs?

Clerk: Well that's for our budget paint. It only comes in half- gallons. One $5 half-gallon will do half a room. The second half- gallon to complete the room is $20. None of the cans have labels, some are empty and there are no refunds, even on the empty cans.

Customer: To hell with this! I'll buy what I need somewhere else!

Clerk: I don't think so, sir. You may be able to buy paint for your bathroom and bedrooms, and your kitchen and dining room from someone else, but you won't be able to paint your connecting hall and stairway from anyone but us. And I should point out, sir, that if you paint in only one direction, it will be $300 a gallon.

Customer: I thought your most expensive paint was $200!

Clerk: That's if you paint around the room to the point at which you started. A hallway is different.

Customer: And if I buy $200 paint for the hall, but only paint in one direction, you'll confiscate the remaining paint.

Clerk: No, we'll charge you an extra use fee plus the difference on your next gallon of paint. But I believe you're getting it now, sir.

Customer: You're insane!

Clerk: Thanks for painting with BA.
 

buggi

Bird Saviour
Location
Solihull
my mum and dad are going to see my sister in Australia and then nip over to my other sister in New Zealand, and have recently transferred cash to my sister's account in Oz so that she can book their Oz - NZ flights because if they do it from here the cost will be double. Similarly, if my sister in NZ books the flights, it's double from there too (hence why they are seeing my Oz sister first). Absolutely crazy.
 

classic33

Leg End Member
Get your mate to buy the tickets, clearly stating which is the outward & which is the return trip.
If the booking is taking then the tickets are valid & he can then post them to you.

Done once when it was found out that to book it from where I was going was less than half the price of booking the same trip here.
 
vernon said:
A pal living near Vancouver suggested that I'd like to fly over for a visit as he reckons the flights are cheap at around £450 return.

Not a bad idea I thought but not this year as the summer holidays are all booked up.

Out of curiosity, I visited the web site of the airline that he suggested and found that the air fares were closer to £400 each way.

No so, says pal and quotes me fares for a given set of dates that undercut the prices that I found.

I log back on and look at the identical flights and they are £459 one way purchased here in the UK here as opposed to £259 if purchased in America.

Other fares have a similar mark up.

What's going on here?
Unfortunately its market forces. The operator can get away with charging more in the UK, there less choice/ competition. Similary in the US where there's more choice/ competion prices are driven down.
 
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