Flexible Tickets
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: London
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To make travellers gamble when they book. It may still be cheaper to forego the no-ref ticket and buy another. The flexibility is a premium feature.
Interesting how Easyjet experiments with letting travellers return early if there are vacant seats.
Interesting how Easyjet experiments with letting travellers return early if there are vacant seats.
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: 9mm up the hill
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Most airlines work as follow: Within Economy class there is about 10 different "priceclass" tickets you can buy. It will start from the cheapest ticket that is most restrictive, to a "y-class" ticket that is the most flexible - all economy class. (You can also get V, Q, L, S, T etc tickets all with their own and price and flexibility)
This give the Early buyer and the buyer that is not going to change his ticket the advantage of getting a better price. So, say on KLM you can get a "V-class" ticket which will be very cheap if you book it in advance, but you cannot change or refund it, where somebody else will buy a Y class ticket a day before departure as it will be the only ticket that is not sold out as yet.This ticket will be much more.
THat is also why you might sit next to somebody in economy class that paid 3 times the price that you paid, as you probably booked your ticket long in advance or didnt want the option that the ticket needs to be flexible.
This rule also go for business class, but there is usually only C and J class, where again C class will be a discounted business class with more restrictions than J-class which will be 100% changable and refundable.
This give the Early buyer and the buyer that is not going to change his ticket the advantage of getting a better price. So, say on KLM you can get a "V-class" ticket which will be very cheap if you book it in advance, but you cannot change or refund it, where somebody else will buy a Y class ticket a day before departure as it will be the only ticket that is not sold out as yet.This ticket will be much more.
THat is also why you might sit next to somebody in economy class that paid 3 times the price that you paid, as you probably booked your ticket long in advance or didnt want the option that the ticket needs to be flexible.
This rule also go for business class, but there is usually only C and J class, where again C class will be a discounted business class with more restrictions than J-class which will be 100% changable and refundable.
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: UK
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Because you are paying a premium for that flexibility. A non changeable ticket for example may cost £10 and a flexible ticket may cost £161, both in economy. The pax who needs the added flexibility to change flights to when they choose i.e a business man is willing to pay the higher fare for this. The majority of airlines operate in this way.
Too mean to buy a long personal title
And one salient thing about fully flexible fares: You can miss the flight that you've booked on without telling anyone, yet still have a valid ticket to use on the next flight, the next day's flight, next week's flight or even next month's flight. You can miss endless numbers of flights sequentially without notice, yet still have a valid ticket that you can still use.
Someone has to pay for that.
Someone has to pay for that.
