wileycoyote Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 Doesn't sound good news Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
californiabeachboy Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 (edited) I also think the growth of "airline alliances" has increased prices. They market it as a benefit for consumers, but in fact it also allows airlines to "carve up" certain routes without violating anti-trust laws. There can be certain benefits to the consumer in terms of frequent flyer miles, and ease of booking, but at the cost of a higher price for the long distance flight. My greatest fear is that the "One World Alliance" will literally become the one world alliance, with every airline as a member - then you will see some real price increases. Edited April 28, 2011 by californiabeachboy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
losworld Posted May 3, 2011 Author Share Posted May 3, 2011 Greg B. How is there a serious oil crisis? Libya produces less than 2% of the world's oil supply. the saudis increased production dramatically. Demand is down in some markets due to price. While you are entitled to your opinion i tend to put mech more value in Losworld. Not all biz hedge oil contracts as it is a coin toss so far as predicting the top/bottom. imho There are more oil reserves in Canada than in the Middle East. If the US used its shale deposits for oil production it would have enough to last 110 years. And we are not even talking about Alaska or the US having the largest coal desposits in the world that can be converted to oil as the Germans did in WWII. I wouldn't sweat peak oil for another century or more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NanLaew Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 How about Aberdeen (Scotland) Bangkok round-trip via Singapore, departing next week, returning late August for £507, incl. tax, etc.. On Singapore Airlines no less. Bargains still out there. Best days to look for them is still Tuesday IME. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfchandler Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Fares for my hypothetical BKK to LAX RT for mid-June have taken a substantial dip over the past few weeks, with the flight data now a month away... See the enclosed chart from Kayak: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
losworld Posted May 17, 2011 Author Share Posted May 17, 2011 Fares for my hypothetical BKK to LAX RT for mid-June have taken a substantial dip over the past few weeks, with the flight data now a month away... See the enclosed chart from Kayak: Yeah but I think that is without the 300-400 tax and fuel surcharge! I've been watching rates for this same period and haven't seen deals plus the kayak alerts they send me all turn out to be false. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lomatopo Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 For most airlines labor is the largest expense line item, fuel is #2. Most airlines hedge their fuel costs so have those costs fixed or capped. Airlines add a separate line item, YQ for fuel surcharges, which is unaffected by existing discounting via contracts. (A corporation might negotiate a 23% discount off published air-fares, the YQ fuel surcharge is not subject to the discount.) Other than additional or increased YQ charges, there is some upward pressure on published prices owing to cut-backs in capacity. Some airlines may choose to operate city-pairs at a loss in order to gain market traction/share/loyalty. AFAIK there haven't been any increases in sales/VAT; still 7.5% in the U.S. sample fare break-out SFO-BKK-SFO Sep 13 - Oct 4 UA Fare 1: Carrier UA LLX33UMG SFO to BKK (rules) Passenger type ADT, round trip fare, booking code L Covers SFO-NRT (Coach), NRT-BKK (Coach) $405.00 Fare 2: Carrier UA LLX33UMG BKK to SFO (rules) Passenger type ADT, round trip fare, booking code L Covers BKK-SFO (Coach) $405.00 Japan International Passenger Facility Charge (SW) $25.40 Passenger Security Service Charge (OI) $12.40 UA YQ surcharge (YQ) $450.00 US International Departure Tax (US) $16.30 US September 11th Security Fee (AY) $2.50 US Passenger Facility Charge (XF) $4.50 USDA APHIS Fee (XA) $5.00 US Immigration Fee (XY) $7.00 US Customs Fee (YC) $5.50 US International Arrival Tax (US) $16.30 Thailand Passenger Service Charge (TS) $23.20 Subtotal per passenger $1,378.10 Number of passengers x1 TOTAL AIRFARE & TAXES $1,378.10 Changes to this ticket will incur a penalty fee. KE Fare 1: Carrier KE QLDXEE SFO to BKK (rules) Passenger type ADT, round trip fare, booking code Q Covers SFO-ICN (Coach), ICN-BKK (Coach) $505.00 Fare 2: Carrier KE QLDXEE BKK to SFO (rules) Passenger type ADT, round trip fare, booking code Q Covers BKK-ICN (Coach), ICN-SFO (Coach) $505.00 KE YQ surcharge (YQ) $3.60 Rep. of Korea Intl. PSC, Dep. Tax and Contribution to Intl. Poverty Eradication (BP) $18.40 US International Departure Tax (US) $16.30 US September 11th Security Fee (AY) $2.50 US Passenger Facility Charge (XF) $4.50 USDA APHIS Fee (XA) $5.00 US Immigration Fee (XY) $7.00 US Customs Fee (YC) $5.50 US International Arrival Tax (US) $16.30 Thailand Passenger Service Charge (TS) $23.20 Subtotal per passenger $1,112.30 Number of passengers x1 TOTAL AIRFARE & TAXES $1,112.30 Changes to this ticket will incur a penalty fee. CI Fare 1: Carrier CI WLXP6M3 SFO to BKK (rules) Passenger type ADT, round trip fare, booking code W Covers SFO-TPE (Coach), TPE-BKK (Coach) $505.00 Fare 2: Carrier CI WLXP6M3 BKK to SFO (rules) Passenger type ADT, round trip fare, booking code W Covers BKK-TPE (Coach), TPE-SFO (Coach) $505.00 CI YQ surcharge (YQ) $228.00 CI YQ surcharge (YQ) $12.00 US International Departure Tax (US) $16.30 US September 11th Security Fee (AY) $2.50 US Passenger Facility Charge (XF) $4.50 USDA APHIS Fee (XA) $5.00 US Immigration Fee (XY) $7.00 US Customs Fee (YC) $5.50 US International Arrival Tax (US) $16.30 Thailand Passenger Service Charge (TS) $23.20 Subtotal per passenger $1,330.30 Number of passengers x1 TOTAL AIRFARE & TAXES $1,330.30 Changes to this ticket will incur a penalty fee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfchandler Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 Fares for my hypothetical BKK to LAX RT for mid-June have taken a substantial dip over the past few weeks, with the flight data now a month away... See the enclosed chart from Kayak: Yeah but I think that is without the 300-400 tax and fuel surcharge! I've been watching rates for this same period and haven't seen deals plus the kayak alerts they send me all turn out to be false. No, you're not correct about that in regard to the fare I posted about.... The fare was the full all inclusive fare.... and I followed the links thru from Kayak to the Delta web site and proceeded up to the point of actually paying for the fare.... I also posted a screen cap from the Delta web site showing the full fare info...in another thread here on the best timing pricewise to purchase tickets... That was a week or so ago....and the same fares were available for perhaps a two week period of time... Now lately, I'm not seeing them anymore at that price from Delta. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lomatopo Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 BKK-LAX-BKK Jun 18-23 on DL does include YQ That is a great price. (I priced it as ticketed ex-LAX, 32,120 THB ticketed ex-BKK) Fare 1: Carrier DL TLSJ12 BKK to LAX (rules) Passenger type ADT, round trip fare, booking code T Covers BKK-LAX (Coach) $322.82 Fare 2: Carrier DL TLSJ12 LAX to BKK (rules) Passenger type ADT, round trip fare, booking code T Covers LAX-BKK (Coach) $322.82 USDA APHIS Fee (XA) $5.00 US Immigration Fee (XY) $7.00 US Customs Fee (YC) $5.50 Japan International Passenger Facility Charge (SW) $25.40 Passenger Security Service Charge (OI) $12.40 US International Arrival Tax (US) $16.30 DL YQ surcharge (YQ) $296.00 Thailand Passenger Service Charge (TS) $23.20 US International Departure Tax (US) $16.30 US September 11th Security Fee (AY) $2.50 US Passenger Facility Charge (XF) $4.50 Subtotal per passenger $1,060.10 Number of passengers x1 TOTAL AIRFARE & TAXES $1,060.10 This ticket is non-refundable. Changes to this ticket will incur a penalty fee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
losworld Posted May 17, 2011 Author Share Posted May 17, 2011 BKK-LAX-BKK Jun 18-23 on DL does include YQ That is a great price. (I priced it as ticketed ex-LAX, 32,120 THB ticketed ex-BKK) Fare 1: Carrier DL TLSJ12 BKK to LAX (rules) Passenger type ADT, round trip fare, booking code T Covers BKK-LAX (Coach) $322.82 Fare 2: Carrier DL TLSJ12 LAX to BKK (rules) Passenger type ADT, round trip fare, booking code T Covers LAX-BKK (Coach) $322.82 USDA APHIS Fee (XA) $5.00 US Immigration Fee (XY) $7.00 US Customs Fee (YC) $5.50 Japan International Passenger Facility Charge (SW) $25.40 Passenger Security Service Charge (OI) $12.40 US International Arrival Tax (US) $16.30 DL YQ surcharge (YQ) $296.00 Thailand Passenger Service Charge (TS) $23.20 US International Departure Tax (US) $16.30 US September 11th Security Fee (AY) $2.50 US Passenger Facility Charge (XF) $4.50 Subtotal per passenger $1,060.10 Number of passengers x1 TOTAL AIRFARE & TAXES $1,060.10 This ticket is non-refundable. Changes to this ticket will incur a penalty fee. Wait a minute - this is for a five day trip? If so these short excursions are always the best price. One used to see 30 day excursions at this rate but they have all but disappeared for this time period. However, nice work getting a grand price regardless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lomatopo Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Wait a minute - this is for a five day trip? If so these short excursions are always the best price. One used to see 30 day excursions at this rate but they have all but disappeared for this time period. However, nice work getting a grand price regardless. I was merely using jfchandler's travel dates, in an effort to be consistent, and to illustrate that the fares he mentioned, specifically on DL, included all fees, taxes and even fuel surcharges (YQ), so what is commonly referred to as "all in". This was in response to your statement, "...Yeah but I think that is without the 300-400 tax and fuel surcharge!" so that you could see that these fares do in fact have the YQ charges. In the other examples I used a 21 day stay, (and SFO-BKK-SFO) and in "shoulder season", just to illustrate the relative base fare and YQ charges so people could could a feel for how those can vary by airline. Every fare basis has pages of terms and conditions; some apply to both/either minimum required stay and maximum stay, usually measured from the first international gateway. Stay duration is not typically a huge factor in pricing, although anything outside of 6 day min/90 day max may lead to a higher ticket price, and/or higher change fees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfchandler Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 (edited) Just to confirm what Loma is saying above, when I found that pricing with Delta, I just modeled the trip at 5 days, because that was how long I would have stayed.... I didn't get any sense, when I was doing the reservation setup, that Delta's pricing on that was only limited to stays of a certain length.... The price was limited, though, to trips departing at that point in the month. Edited May 18, 2011 by jfchandler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lomatopo Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 The BKK-LAX-BKK June 18-23 DL itin I showed has a fare basis of TLSJ12, so a "T" bucket, basically lowest-priced economy fare bucket. Note that these usually have APEX requirements of at least 21 days, but until the fare bucket sells out (or is perhaps left open owing to a lack of sales) the APEX can drop to 3 days. It has a 30 day maximum stay and no minimum stay. Fare Code - TLSJ12 RESERVATIONS/TICKETING TKTG WITHIN 3 DAYS AFTER RESERVATIONS WAITLISTING/STANDBYS NOT PERMITTED ALL SEGMENTS MUST BE CONFIRMED MINIMUM STAY NO RESTRICTION MAXIMUM STAY 1 MONTH AFTER DEPARTURE FROM ORIGIN SEASONS 24MAR11-30JUN11 DEPARTURE OUTBOUND TRANSPACIFIC SECTOR BLACKOUT DATES NO RESTRICTION ELIGIBILITY NO RESTRICTION TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS NO RESTRICTION DAY/TIME NO RESTRICTION STOPOVERS NOT PERMITTED DEPARTURE FROM ORIGIN SURCHARGES 170.00 USD MISC/OTHER PER DIRECTION TRANSATLANTIC SECTOR ORIG THAILAND MISC/OTHER PER DIRECTION FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS MUST NOT BE VIA DL OP CXR KE ANY FLIGHT ANY DL FLIGHT TRANSFERS NOT PERMITTED NOT PERMITTED FURTHER RESTR APPLY SEE TEXT RULE TICKET ENDORSEMENT NO RESTRICTION ACCOMPANIED PASSENGERS NO RESTRICTION SALES RESTRICTIONS TKT ON/BEFORE 30JUN11 SEE TEXT RULE CHANGES/REFUNDS ORIG AREA 1 CHANGE-250.00 USD ORIG THAILAND CANCEL-NON REF BEFORE/AFTER DEPART FURTHER RESTR APPLY SEE TEXT RULE FOR ALL CONDITIONS SEE TEXT RULE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfchandler Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Loma, what site/source are you pulling all that fare detail info from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfchandler Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 Meanwhile, in my latest update today, finding $1,140 RT airfares on Delta for mid June BKK to LAX, with a one-stop in Japan... still much down from the past few months... Delta also has some lower fares around $1070 all in, but those involve a second stop on one of the flight segments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lomatopo Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 DL 283 and DL 284 are what are known as "through-flights", the same flight sold to some as BKK-LAX, or LAX-BKK, with one-stop, a plane change and possible change of gauge. Looking at the seatmaps these flights are filling up, ~ 50% full now so that T bucket might sell out, or be closed soon. Obviously with the crises in Japan loads are quite low. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfchandler Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 It's kind of odd...in that in many years of flying back and forth between LAX and BKK, I don't think I've ever heard Delta mentioned as a operator on that segment, or even heard anyone talking about having flown Delta here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lomatopo Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 It's kind of odd...in that in many years of flying back and forth between LAX and BKK, I don't think I've ever heard Delta mentioned as a operator on that segment, or even heard anyone talking about having flown Delta here... Northwest operated NRT<-->BKK for years, they merged with DL in 2008. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfchandler Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 Ahh...that explains it.. Thanks Loma... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfchandler Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 Fate is a bit strange.... As it turns out, I've actually needed to now purchase one of the BKK to LAX roundtrip flights about a week ahead of my travel date, due to an unexpected family emergency.... The all-inclusive fare right now, about $1050 for economy, is among the best I've seen in many months, and certainly better than if I had purchased two to three months ahead in this case. Attached below is a printout of the fare Delta is offering right now... The dates in the screen capture are the ones I'd been tracking and comparing for months... But I'm actually flying sooner, at the same exact fare, having bought the ticket about a week ahead of my travel. The particular Delta flight I purchased is one-stop on the BKK to LAX segment via Narita... And two stops on the return, going LAX to SFO then on to Narita and BKK. Layovers no more than 1 to 2 hours maximum. When I priced the tickets, the fares did change by $100 or so up or down depending on which particular day of the week one chooses for their departure and return. Delta's economy ticket price for the flight includes at no extra charge two 50 lbs. checked suitcases, one carry-on bag and a personal item... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now