Ethiad prices!

chewed

I'm a bit pi$$ed off today. I had been waiting 2 months for approval from my employer to take January 2011 as a 4 week holiday to go Oz. I finally got the OK and went to book my tickets last night on the Ethiad website only to find that the prices increased over 50% since I last looked 2 weeks ago!

Is this normal? Does anyone know if these prices will come down again?

ballooba

Late January and into Irish spring should be cheap. Early January is peak.

shamblertine

chewed wrote: »

I'm a bit pi$$ed off today. I had been waiting 2 months for approval from my employer to take January 2011 as a 4 week holiday to go Oz. I finally got the OK and went to book my tickets last night on the Ethiad website only to find that the prices increased over 50% since I last looked 2 weeks ago!

Is this normal? Does anyone know if these prices will come down again?

the price of my ethihad flight rise by about 30% in 2 days. I reckon they must have software that tracks if you have viewed a particular flight, then when you come back to that page again some time in the future they recognise the ip and prices are increased. Just a theory.

chewed

shamblertine wrote: »

the price of my ethihad flight rise by about 30% in 2 days. I reckon they must have software that tracks if you have viewed a particular flight, then when you come back to that page again some time in the future they recognise the ip and prices are increased. Just a theory.

I was thinking that myself! I've heard of Ryanair doing this sort of thing on their site. I'm angry that I could have saved 2k if my employer gave me the OK for my holiday request sooner! :mad:

Quazzie

shamblertine wrote: »

the price of my ethihad flight rise by about 30% in 2 days. I reckon they must have software that tracks if you have viewed a particular flight, then when you come back to that page again some time in the future they recognise the ip and prices are increased. Just a theory.

I can't see that being real. They can't do that because they can't offer two different prices to two different people at the same time. Plus all you'd have to do it use a proxy server or a different computer.

What is possible is that they raise their prices based on how many views a certain flight gets. Amount of views could denote popularity for that flight but prices will fall again if there are no bookings coming at the increased price.

chewed

When I was on the Ethiad website I went ahead and started the procedure to book my original flight. I got as far as the passenger details section and seat choosing. When I clicked to choose seats, I was given this screen which shows the occupied/vacant seats. The Green indicates a vacant seat. It looks a bit odd to me that the D, F and K aisles would all be occupied, but the seats beside them vacant!

woolymammoth

do a search on kayak.com, you can track popularity of the flight you're looking at based on other peoples searches on their website.

FreeAnd..

chewed wrote: »

When I was on the Ethiad website I went ahead and started the procedure to book my original flight. I got as far as the passenger details section and seat choosing. When I clicked to choose seats, I was given this screen which shows the occupied/vacant seats. The Green indicates a vacant seat. It looks a bit odd to me that the D, F and K aisles would all be occupied, but the seats beside them vacant!

Try booking through Expedia or one of those...you will notice that they offer different seats available (generally better) than the ones you can buy direct through Ethiad...they seem to make the worst seats available through their own site and the rest through 3rd part booking sites...noticed that prices are usuallly better through a 3rd part too - i saved a few hundred not booking direct through the etihad site (+ its an awfully buggy site too)

chewed

FreeAnd.. wrote: »

Try booking through Expedia or one of those...you will notice that they offer different seats available (generally better) than the ones you can buy direct through Ethiad...they seem to make the worst seats available through their own site and the rest through 3rd part booking sites...noticed that prices are usuallly better through a 3rd part too - i saved a few hundred not booking direct through the etihad site (+ its an awfully buggy site too)

You're right FreeAnd. I just checked Expedia and the quote is nearly 7% cheaper than Ethiad! Why is this? I would have thought it would be the other way around, where the 3rd party sites would put their own mark up on the flights?

ballooba

Kayak.com checks all the third party sites. I've personally never flown Eithad and always fly Singapore Air. Why do people prefer to fly Etihad, apart from avoiding London?

shamblertine

ballooba wrote: »

Kayak.com checks all the third party sites. I've personally never flown Eithad and always fly Singapore Air. Why do people prefer to fly Etihad, apart from avoiding London?

do people need another reason? if you only have to stop once instead of twice, and therefore chop of about 2.5 hours from your total flight time, then its a bit of a no brainer to go with ethihad.

duckygalway

ARGGHHHH!!! Just checked expedia there and my flights (which I booked a month ago) came in just under €100 cheaper! Raging!

ballooba

shamblertine wrote: »

do people need another reason? if you only have to stop once instead of twice, and therefore chop of about 2.5 hours from your total flight time, then its a bit of a no brainer to go with ethihad.

Not really, Singapore's prices are much keener in my experience and the service is excellent. The plane's are also brand new and highly comfortable.

I haven't flown with anyone else but I have heard that BA and Qantas are god awful. I haven't met anyone whose flown both Etihad and Singapore economy to compare. I wouldn't personally be inclined to take the risk. I know Singapore are excellent.

As for the 2.5 hours (maybe 5 if you include SIN), I actually don't mind the extra and it's a chance to stretch the legs.

woodzie

Try ebookers.ie. I went on the 27th dec last to oz for 6 weeks and Singapore Airlines came out cheapest and their service was the best I have ever seen. Return to Sydney was €1400, which was way cheaper than Qantas or BA. Went on the A380. For the price I wasnt expecting much but they were brillaint.

happo

If the price increased 50% in two weeks I would presume it may be because of the ash cloud that caused flights to be grounded in Europe. Company is trying to scrap back some money they lost over the outage!