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how do the arrival / departure dates affect ticket costs?



 
 
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  #1  
Old December 31st, 2007, 05:18 AM posted to rec.travel.air
yawnmoth
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Posts: 22
Default how do the arrival / departure dates affect ticket costs?

I've been trying to see how changing the arrival / departure date
affects the cost of a ticket (from aa.com) and have a few questions
(all dates are 2008).

A flight from July 14th to July 17th from AUS to LHR (and vice versa)
costs $1922.00.

A flight from July 14th to July 20th from AUS to LHR (and vice versa)
costs $1375.00.

A flight from July 14th to July 21st costs $1345.00. From July 17th
to July 24th, it's $1405.00.

My question is... what's determining the prices? Why are some
flights more expensive then others?
  #2  
Old December 31st, 2007, 05:35 AM posted to rec.travel.air
Mr. Travel
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Posts: 1,032
Default how do the arrival / departure dates affect ticket costs?

yawnmoth wrote:

I've been trying to see how changing the arrival / departure date
affects the cost of a ticket (from aa.com) and have a few questions
(all dates are 2008).

A flight from July 14th to July 17th from AUS to LHR (and vice versa)
costs $1922.00.

A flight from July 14th to July 20th from AUS to LHR (and vice versa)
costs $1375.00.

A flight from July 14th to July 21st costs $1345.00. From July 17th
to July 24th, it's $1405.00.

My question is... what's determining the prices? Why are some
flights more expensive then others?


It might be helpful to know how the fare breaks down per segment (or
direction). I would suspect there is a reason more people want to fly
from LHR to AUS on July 17, and the cheapest fares are sold out.
For the minor fare differences, some could be related to different fares
offered on different days or at different times. There might also be
some issues with some cheap fares sold out. Connecting through different
locations could also affect the price. Some fares also have minimum
stay requirements. There are a large number of reasons. Sporting
events, political events, etc.
  #3  
Old December 31st, 2007, 07:33 AM posted to rec.travel.air
yawnmoth
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 22
Default how do the arrival / departure dates affect ticket costs?

On Dec 30, 10:35 pm, "Mr. Travel" wrote:
yawnmoth wrote:
I've been trying to see how changing the arrival / departure date
affects the cost of a ticket (from aa.com) and have a few questions
(all dates are 2008).


A flight from July 14th to July 17th from AUS to LHR (and vice versa)
costs $1922.00.


A flight from July 14th to July 20th from AUS to LHR (and vice versa)
costs $1375.00.


A flight from July 14th to July 21st costs $1345.00. From July 17th
to July 24th, it's $1405.00.


My question is... what's determining the prices? Why are some
flights more expensive then others?


It might be helpful to know how the fare breaks down per segment (or
direction). I would suspect there is a reason more people want to fly
from LHR to AUS on July 17, and the cheapest fares are sold out.
For the minor fare differences, some could be related to different fares
offered on different days or at different times. There might also be
some issues with some cheap fares sold out. Connecting through different
locations could also affect the price. Some fares also have minimum
stay requirements. There are a large number of reasons. Sporting
events, political events, etc.


All the flights are the same. To LHR, it's AUS to DFW and DFW to
LHR. From LHR, it's LHR to ORD and ORD to AUS.

I'm not sure how to how to see how the fare breaks down per segment on
aa.com.

Also, if there's a reason more people would want to fly on a
particular day... would there be any way to figure that out? Or
would you just have to randomly pick days until you found the cheapest
one?

Thanks!
  #4  
Old December 31st, 2007, 07:58 AM posted to rec.travel.air
Mr. Travel
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Posts: 1,032
Default how do the arrival / departure dates affect ticket costs?

yawnmoth wrote:

Also, if there's a reason more people would want to fly on a
particular day... would there be any way to figure that out? Or
would you just have to randomly pick days until you found the cheapest
one?


There are search engines that let you pick fares within a set of dates.
I will stick with AA, since you mentioned them.
Even on AA, if you choose by "Schedule and price", or something like
that, it shows the prices for different fare classes and at the top of
the screen, you can see the fares for segments before and after that
date. Additionally, the "dates flexible" option on AA.com will show you
the different fares, and with some work, you can select the fare and
find out which days it is available. As I recall, you give it the number
of days you want to travel and a date range of up to 30 days.
AA.com now lets you see a month of award availablity at a time.

As stated, some fare differences are determine by the number of days you
stay. Without knowing the rules of the fare, which can be seen on AA, it
is not possible to know the restrictions. It is possible the fare drops
after July 17. It is also probable the lowest fare will change between
now and July. There are many variables.

Reasons for travel peaks to or from a destination

1. National holidsys near origin or destination location (or a
connecting area)

2. Sports events (Superbowl, World Cup, Annual Longhorn/Sooners football
game in Dallas)


3. Trade Shows (Comdex, for example)

4. Other large gatherings such as corporate events

As stated, fares can change for a number of reasons.
Some days there could be different capacity between the points along
your routing. For example. On Wednesday, there are 2 flights between
point A and B. On Thursday, there is only one flight, but the number of
people that want to travel on Thursday is more than 1/2 the number that
want to go on Wednesday.

There are many reasons.

You might also want to check pricing on other carriers, unless you need
FF status points/miles on Aadvantage. Depending on the number of people
traveling, it might also be reasonable savings to drive to DFW or
Houston. I never planned this, but once drove IAH after weather delays
made a trip to CUN in doubt for the second day. We grabbed a couple of
other people who were also catching the IAH-CUN flight, rented a car,
and rush to IAH in just enough time to make the flight. The AUS-IAH
flight was still on the ground at AUS when we boarded the IAH-CUN
flight. Of course, now I wouldn't fly CO Depending on the time/day,
the drive to DFW can be fast.



 




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