Aer Lingus flight

jaffaD

Hi, I booked a flight for 350 euro a month ago, very expensive but I had to be on that flight. The same flight is now 200 euro. Theres no sale or anything. I would have felt I payed that price as it was very close to selling out. Is it not normal for prices to increase as seats are sold rather than decrease? I felt bad enough at the time paying that price but now I really feel ripped off.

Im just wondering if anyone has seen anything like this before, I really feel like ive been had:(

aidan_walsh

The same route, or the very same flight you yourself will be sitting on

Airline prices tend to change seasonally, and flights more likely to sell better will be cheaper at various times of the year. It might also depend on how close to the date of the flight you were booking.

theteal

flight prices fluctuate constantly. always clear your cookies before booking a flight

jaffaD

very same flight. same flight number, time, route etc. I find it very strange

kelle

I've been caught like that, jaffaD! And when multiplied by 5 (2 adults and 3 children) you can really feel hard done by. But at the end of the day it's the luck of the draw!

Generally Aer Lingus prices keep increasing especially on the popular routes, whereas Ryanair's are unpredictable - but last year I "lost " €300 a few days after booking an AL flight to Barcelona!

jaffaD

Its madness, so they had these cheaper seats stashed away but were only offering me the dearer ones? It just doesnt make any sense at all

CIARAN_BOYLE

jaffaD wrote: »

Its madness, so they had these cheaper seats stashed away but were only offering me the dearer ones? It just doesnt make any sense at all

More likely there is a more space on the flight then they would expect so they are offloading them for cheap. If there are empty seats when they fly the get absolutely nothing.

Its pretty normal afaik

coylemj

jaffaD wrote: »

Its madness, so they had these cheaper seats stashed away but were only offering me the dearer ones? It just doesnt make any sense at all

There is very sophisticated software behind the pricing models used by airlines' computer systems, in the business it's called 'load balancing' and each airline's profits rely heavily on it.

In your first post you said 'I had to be on that flight'. The airlines know that someone who books a flight well in advance is in precisely the situation you described - they are probably travelling to a wedding or a similar event where the date is set in stone and the intending passenger needs to guarantee that they can travel on a specific date.

In general terms, the price of a seat starts off high for people like you, then the price drops to attract more people, then as the date of the flight approaches, the price starts to go up again. This is where they screw business people who have to attend a meeting at short notice and people who have to travel to attend a funeral. Again, in very general terms, the first and last people to book seats on any flight will probably have paid the highest fares.

dudara

As coylemj said, the pricing models are pretty sophisticated. Generally the optimum time to book is only a few weeks in advance.

There is nothing that you can do in this situation. Aer Lingus offered you the seats at the earlier price, and you accepted that price.

Yakuza

Someone may have cancelled their ticket on that flight (losing their money) so AL resold it, whatever they got for it would have been pure profit.

I always understood that the earlier you buy your ticket, the better. It certainly seems that way with Ryanair, who seem to sell the cheap seats first, then the next tranche of seats is at a higher price etc.

keithclancy

Yakuza wrote: »

Someone may have cancelled their ticket on that flight (losing their money) so AL resold it, whatever they got for it would have been pure profit.

I always understood that the earlier you buy your ticket, the better. It certainly seems that way with Ryanair, who seem to sell the cheap seats first, then the next tranche of seats is at a higher price etc.

I'd never cancel my flight unless there was a refund due, waste of my time otherwise.

theteal

Yakuza wrote: »

I always understood that the earlier you buy your ticket, the better. It certainly seems that way with Ryanair, who seem to sell the cheap seats first, then the next tranche of seats is at a higher price etc.

nope, it's the exact same with ryanair. book too early and you'll pay more. in my experience the sweet spot is usually about 3-5 weeks before the flight

Dodge

All airlines log flight searches too. So if, say, 100 people search for the same flight, and 20 start the booking process to see the true price, tht will act as 20 seats booked. This is paticularly true around sporting events (and their draws etc)

You might go back the next day and find it cheaper if no one actually booked the flights

Annoying for you OP, but not much you can do

munchkin_utd

Yakuza wrote: »

Someone may have cancelled their ticket on that flight (losing their money) so AL resold it, whatever they got for it would have been pure profit.
....

Or a group cancelled leaving the plane going from almost full to almost empty

Or what I have seen sometimes happening in my own case on in demand routes (i.e. Munich->Dub at christmas when the large expat community heading home and christmas market visitors boost demand for the service), prices can reduce somewhat because they allocate a larger plane on the route.

Aer lingus in general have A320s (the airbus equivalent of Ryanairs Boeing 737) which have 171 seats on shorthaul.
They do though have three 212 seat A321s.
If they change plane allocated, then the number of seats can go up or down quite substantially which affects prices.
http://www.aerlingus.com/aboutus/aerlingusmedia/aircraftfleet/

jaffaD

Cheers for the replies, ive learnt my lesson the hard way!

Apple_Mc

theteal wrote: »

flight prices fluctuate constantly. always clear your cookies before booking a flight

Hi, Why should you clear your cookies? Has that got something to do with them changing the flight price because you keep looking at it - God that sounds silly but I was looking at a flight on Ryanair and it kept changing every few minutes

harry Bailey esq

really bugs me when airlines print full page ads in national newspaper,offering ridiculous low prices,and when you hit the websites no such prices exist.best deal I've had recently was return flight from Dublin to eindhoven for me and my better half,56 euro total fare for 2passengers.as a previous poster remarked,it really is the luck of the draw.