BA website ..... again ! Just booked DUS-MAN and vv for January 2006 . Clicked on the outbound e13 and then for the return e50 (equals e63 (?)). Next page is the total fare e80 !!! plus taxes e67.49 giving e147.47 . Can anyone tell me where the extra fare (e12.51) goes to . It states quite clearly FARE and ALL TAXES on the website . Am I the only one to smell a rat ? Try it and see !
Globaliser
11th Nov 2005, 13:21
It looks like this is what is happening. You have to remember that the relevant fares are probably only sold as round trips, and that the single sector prices shown by ba.com are indicative only. This is a difference from (for example) most low-fare airlines which sell one-way trips only, and where a round trip is simply the sum of two one-way fares.
The three cheapest fare levels on your route look like they are €25, €60 and €100 return, plus tax etc.
It also looks like the €25 fare is only combinable with itself. You either fly out and back on the €25 fare, or else the fare is not valid on either sector. So if you pick two sectors which are each individually shown as €13, you'll get a round trip fare of €25.
The €60 and €100 fares look like they're combinable with each other. So if you select €30+€30, you get quoted €60 round trip, if you select €30+€50 or €50+€30, you get quoted €80 round trip, and if you select €50+€50, you get €100 round trip. Nothing wrong here.
What I think is happening to you is that because you're picking €13+€50, but the lowest fare isn't combinable with the higher fare, the final quote reverts to the lowest valid fare for the outbound sector, which gives you €30+€50=€80 as you see.
I agree that it looks funny on the website, but I don't think that there's anything particularly funny actually going on. This phenomenon happens quite a lot. All that's wrong is that the ba.com display for the price of the return sector hasn't taken into account the fact that the outbound fare you've chosen can't be validly combined with some of the return fares - annoying, and there ought to be a warning on there, but no rat.