Flight prices back to "near normal" compared to Covid times

[KyleReading]

One of my offspring asked me price flights for them 2nd Oct till 24th Ocrober (lower season I acknowledge)

Results were half decent seeing I used only Skyscanner didnt bother checking others

Transit times were normal connections (not extended)

 

 

[KyleReading]

Most of the others were low £500's as well bar non stop on Eva and Thai

Edited June 27, 2024 by KyleReading

[momo5]

Glad to see some downward pricing.  
 

Personally not interested in economy if the flight is longer than 4-5 hrs; however, business class tickets haven’t come down to pre-Covid levels as far as I can tell … at least not on my preferred carriers and routes.  

[Arnie85]

Still $800 more than 2015-2020 prices for me. 

[Btc755]

2 hours ago, momo5 said:

Glad to see some downward pricing.  
 

Personally not interested in economy if the flight is longer than 4-5 hrs; however, business class tickets haven’t come down to pre-Covid levels as far as I can tell … at least not on my preferred carriers and routes.  

It is most likely due to lower availability post Covid.  It has become more popular to pay more money to fly business class & also for people to use miles/points for business class or premium economy seats.

Edited June 27, 2024 by Btc755

[Btc755]

2 hours ago, Arnie85 said:

Still $800 more than 2015-2020 prices for me. 

If you live in North America, the volume of flights to Asia hasn’t returned to pre pandemic levels & that keeps the prices higher.  One of the reasons for this are flights to/from China are still relatively low. 

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/12/business/us-airlines-letter-china-flights-disadvantage-intl-hnk/index.html

Edited June 27, 2024 by Btc755

[Dalef65]

I have a trip booked November 13-December 12 on Qatar airways  LHR to BKK. I paid £467. I was paying more than that back in 2006. I should add that I did book this back in January.

Remember all the hysteria on here three or four years ago about what was going to happen to flight prices after COVID...😀

[momo5]

53 minutes ago, Btc755 said:

It is most likely due to lower availability post Covid.  It has become more popular to pay more money to fly business class & also for people to use miles/points for business class or premium economy seats.

Absolutely.  It’s a combination of fewer seats and available seats being sold … I think availability of mileage awards has gone down considerably as well.   Nearly always sold out even with round trip fare in the range of 8k - 15k.  

[swede37]

I found one flight for 487 euro for end of september, didnt plan on going but couldn't resist that low price so I booked. It was a month ago, now that flight is 50% more

[Lowyy]

17 minutes ago, swede37 said:

I found one flight for 487 euro for end of september, didnt plan on going but couldn't resist that low price so I booked. It was a month ago, now that flight is 50% more

Same here. It really pays off if you can book 6 months in advance. Can´t find a cheaper flight than 900€ from central Europe.

[jaynewcastle]

Just checked Emirates website, prices still far higher than they used to be from Newcastle to Bangkok  😞

Nothing under £800 as far as their website shows

[Greg_B]

The difference is now in the "extras" you must pay for.

Some have a baggage surcharge and a seat selection surcharge, which are paid for in addition to the basic price.

[KyleReading]

15 hours ago, Greg_B said:

The difference is now in the "extras" you must pay for.

Some have a baggage surcharge and a seat selection surcharge, which are paid for in addition to the basic price.

I've never paid for either but acknowledge others may do

When online check in opens am on there to the minute with aisle seat and away we go. Never been on a flight that at least 20kg wasn't allocated as a minimum as part of agent fare

[Scozander]

Ive been looking for a flight in December, prime time I know, and cant get an economy flight under £1400, which is ridiculous.

[fereing213e]

18 minutes ago, Scozander said:

Ive been looking for a flight in December, prime time I know, and cant get an economy flight under £1400, which is ridiculous.

I've not checked in December but for November there are cheap options. I can see a flight for £512 from my place return. Maybe check out some of the Chinese airlines if you can directly? They seem to be offering the best deals at the moment if you're not afraid of a longer journey. 

Not sure if you have but try different airports too, idk where you are in Scotland but in Glasgow/Edinburgh there's a few airports + Newcastle is fairly accessible by train.

[Scozander]

28 minutes ago, fereing213e said:

I've not checked in December but for November there are cheap options. I can see a flight for £512 from my place return. Maybe check out some of the Chinese airlines if you can directly? They seem to be offering the best deals at the moment if you're not afraid of a longer journey. 

Not sure if you have but try different airports too, idk where you are in Scotland but in Glasgow/Edinburgh there's a few airports + Newcastle is fairly accessible by train.

Edinburgh is £1400, Glasgow slightly higher.

Looked at Manchester and Newcastle, even those are £1300, so no saving there. Even going from London is coming in at £1160.

Was looking at a three week trip, 13th Dec to 4th Jan, but not paying those prices.

[fereing213e]

13 minutes ago, Scozander said:

Edinburgh is £1400, Glasgow slightly higher.

Looked at Manchester and Newcastle, even those are £1300, so no saving there. Even going from London is coming in at £1160.

Was looking at a three week trip, 13th Dec to 4th Jan, but not paying those prices.

They're insane prices so I don't blame you. Skyscanner changes from one day to the next though so hopefully they come down for you. Maybe set an email alert on skyscanner for a price you're happy to pay? The last few trips it's ended up coming in around £1100-1200 for me with flights and hotel. I usually try get flights for around the 700 mark return but I ended up paying 840 in May due to last minute booking.

Edited June 29, 2024 by fereing213e

[keepitfun]

I’m still seeing 20% up vs pre COVID from Melbourne.   Prices are slowly coming down particularly base rates but seats, tv, bags etc on charges are all up and full service airlines are at least 15% up.  Reference points Qantas and Thai

However, it’s 4+ years since pre covid  …. 4 x inflation probably makes up for it.  ???

[Bonkabit]

2 hours ago, keepitfun said:

I’m still seeing 20% up vs pre COVID from Melbourne. ..  Reference points Qantas and Thai

Royal Brunei is the best priced full-service carrier I can find Melbourne-Bangkok, economy return.

Skyscanner shows Jan '25 price as $A753 (18,000 bahts). Others are currently over $A1000 (24,000 bahts).

Only one flight per week without lengthy stopovers in Brunei. Ex MEL on Sun, 10hrs 35 min. Ex BKK on Sat ,

11 hrs 30 min. No good for boozers though; airline is no grog allowed.

[keepitfun]

12 minutes ago, Bonkabit said:

Only one flight per week without lengthy stopovers in Brunei. Ex MEL on Sun, 10hrs 35 min. Ex BKK on Sat ,

11 hrs 30 min. No good for boozers though; airline is no grog allowed.

Stopover and no booze?   It’s a no from me. 

[jaynewcastle]

7 hours ago, Scozander said:

Ive been looking for a flight in December, prime time I know, and cant get an economy flight under £1400, which is ridiculous.

December flights would have been released 6 months ago, so the cheapest seats would have been sold a long time ago

I've noticed the last 2 years with Emirates, flights are cheapest when first released and the prices have only gone up, have never got any cheaper, which is a complete change to prices normally being expensive when first released

Obviously Emirates prices are nowhere near back to normal,  and out of Newcastle, still over £800, rather than the usual £500

[KyleReading]

7 hours ago, Scozander said:

Edinburgh is £1400, Glasgow slightly higher.

Looked at Manchester and Newcastle, even those are £1300, so no saving there. Even going from London is coming in at £1160.

Was looking at a three week trip, 13th Dec to 4th Jan, but not paying those prices.

That return date is the main problem being the weekend after New Year when the 2 week millionaires all return home

I did find £863 but it was a combination of airlines out of London with a total time of 36 hours

Edited June 30, 2024 by KyleReading

[Greg_B]

I usually wait until I'm 5 months out, but today I bought my ticket for an April 2025 trip.

ORD-ICN-BKK (roundtrip) for $962 (USD)

That is $180 cheaper than the trip I took this year

 

[hoopbhoy]

I've paid £828 from Glasgow for mid November to start of December on Emirates. Pre covid I'd pay between £450 and £600. Chepest is KLM at £720 but they charge extra for checked bags which brings the costs back up to Emirates levels. I think the cheaper flights from London is because BA have restarted BKK flights in October. A bit of a price war going on. Those of us flying from regional airports are still fucked. Hopefully Scottish prices will start dropping once Emirates starts flying out of Edinburgh in November. 

Edited June 30, 2024 by hoopbhoy
Spelling

[fereing213e]

56 minutes ago, hoopbhoy said:

I've paid £828 from Glasgow for mid November to start of December on Emirates. Pre covid I'd pay between £450 and £600. Chepest is KLM at £720 but they charge extra for checked bags which brings the costs back up to Emirates levels. I think the cheaper flights from London is because BA have restarted BKK flights in October. A bit of a price war going on. Those of us flying from regional airports are still fucked. Hopefully Scottish prices will start dropping once Emirates starts flying out of Edinburgh in November. 

Have you or anyone here flown Emirates before? How was the split? I'm guessing you're flying EDI-DXB-BKK. Is the 6-7 hour split flights easier than one long haul? 

I tend to look to fly with AirFrance/KLM from Newcastle just because the Paris/Amsterdam is an easy connection and they're often the cheapest/fastest anyway. The last few times though the 11-12 hour flights really drag though; didn't help my flight out last time I had a screaming and kicking four year old behind me THEWHOLEWAY.