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


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Posted

Been going to Thailand since 2007. Cheapest flight I ever got was £500 I think. Could get a KLM or Turkish airways for £600 to £700. Qatar or Emirates say £100 to £150 more 

Scottish flights are a bit more expensive compared to England 

  • 4 weeks later...
Posted

My recent experience trying to book a flight from St Louis (Missouri, USA) to BKK this coming March has been a scary experience. I did this trip twice last year at a cost of $1,200-1,400. Currently there are few flights priced under $2K and most are not acceptable to me with crazy long layover times.

I realize I may be a bit early trying to book this far in advance, but if I look at the end of January or February it is about the same.

I have no idea why flight prices have increased so much for 2025?

  • Like 1

 Women Are Like Elephants. I Like to Look At Em. But I Wouldn't Want to Own One. - WC Fields

Posted

Perhaps airlines have realised after 2-3 years of higher prices that many people are prepared to pay 60% or so more for their flights ?

My economy flight with Emirates next month is now coming in at nearly £1500 (business class wasn't much more a few years ago)

  • Sad 2
Posted (edited)
5 hours ago, Carl123 said:

My recent experience trying to book a flight from St Louis (Missouri, USA) to BKK this coming March has been a scary experience. I did this trip twice last year at a cost of $1,200-1,400. Currently there are few flights priced under $2K and most are not acceptable to me with crazy long layover times.

I realize I may be a bit early trying to book this far in advance, but if I look at the end of January or February it is about the same.

I have no idea why flight prices have increased so much for 2025?

Even the airline executives don’t understand how their own price algorithms work.  

Start looking at other itineraries from other cities … even though it may require a positioning flight, could end up cheaper overall.  

Also, while I think prices are cheaper when booking earlier, perhaps wait until just after the current holiday season as prices tend to be elevated this time of year.  

Edited by momo5
Posted
9 hours ago, momo5 said:

Even the airline executives don’t understand how their own price algorithms work.  

Start looking at other itineraries from other cities … even though it may require a positioning flight, could end up cheaper overall.  

Also, while I think prices are cheaper when booking earlier, perhaps wait until just after the current holiday season as prices tend to be elevated this time of year.  

The positioning flight, or as I like to call it, self connect flight, is a good idea. I have been able to save by booking from a major hub like ORD (Chicago) and a separate flight from STL. It does add a bit of stress being responsible for making that connection.

I use Google Flights to do my preliminary shopping and book with the airline. It is disappointing when Google prices are substantially lower than actual airline booking prices and third party online booking agencies are not for me.

For now I will keep looking and as you recommend, wait until after the holidays.

 Women Are Like Elephants. I Like to Look At Em. But I Wouldn't Want to Own One. - WC Fields

Posted (edited)

I've got Xmas & March-flights CNX-LGW returns booked at £554 & £516 on China-Eastern via Shanghai-Pudong, but still seeing nothing cheap for May & early-July trips, the Back Friday & Cyber Monday Sales were completely useless !

Now hoping for something end-December or early-January Sales, but currently prices are showing £200-higher than I got this time last year, and anything via BKK and the Gulf is £850-£950, ie little better than taking Thai/EVA non-stop.

I've got Alerts set-up on Skyscanner & CheapFlights, and just have to be ready to grab it fast, if anything does come up.  Might be time to do, what I was doing just before Covid-lockdowns hit, and buy (cheaper) UK-Thailand-UK tickets to meet my travel-needs ?  🥺 

 

Edit to Add  ...  the slightly-weaker Pound means, I'd view £525-£535 as being equivalent now, to what I was finding one-year-ago.  I prefer pricing in Pounds, to avoid the 3%-Surcharge on my MasterCard.

Edited by semi-retired member
Posted (edited)

I would not call this "near normal," if "normal" means "pre-COVID". But perhaps it's the "new normal."

I booked my Jan-Feb 2025 flight during Cathay Pacific's "Black Friday" sale, the day after USA Thanksgiving. The round-trip price, in Premium Economy, was $2870, but I can actually sleep in the "Barca-Lounger" gradd Premium Economy seats -- and I'll get mileage credit on my American Airlines AAdvantage program.

Mark you, this is from Washington, DC to BKK, with plane-changes at Chicago (ORD) and Hong Kong (HKG). Twelve time-zones, too -- DC is GMT minus 5, while BKK is GMT plus 7.

 

Edited by BeijaFlor

(Westy on Philippine-Addicts. BeijaFlor ('kiss-flower') is Portuguese for hummingbird, a tiny jewel of a bird that flits from flower to flower, like a butterfly ... but I am anything BUT tiny!)

Posted

I'm a bit jealous of those English prices.  I'm flying economy for $1540.  😔

Posted

Booked round trip Las Vegas USA to BKK and return Saigon to Las Vegas, depart  2/1/25,  return from Saigon 3/25/25. Total cost $956 US.  Never thought I would ever get anything under $1000 US after covid.

Posted
5 hours ago, lvartist said:

Booked round trip Las Vegas USA to BKK and return Saigon to Las Vegas, depart  2/1/25,  return from Saigon 3/25/25. Total cost $956 US.  Never thought I would ever get anything under $1000 US after covid.

Is that with a decent airline, with good connection times ?

Sounds like a good deal

Posted

I got a Thai Airways nonstop economy flight return Copenhagen-Bangkok Februari next year for:

9625 SEK = 31000 THB= 716 GBP= 833 EUR= 898 USD

About 100 USD cheaper than a year ago.

  • Like 1

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Posted

the cheapest i ever got an economy flight from dublin to bkk was less that 400€ ! 

Posted

Regarding JAYNewcastle question....

6 flights total for round trip. 3 on United Airlines  UAL

UAL to San Francisco  2/1  layover sfo 1 Hr 45 minutes

UAL to Hong Kong 15 hr 45 min flight. Layover HKG 3 Hr 25 min

Hong Kong Airlines to BKk 3hr 15 min flight

Return from Saigon 3/25

All Nipon Airlines Ana to Tokyo 5 hr 5 Hr 40 min flight layover NRT  2 hours

Ana to Los Angeles 10 hrs,.....layover lax 2 Hr 41 min

UAL to Las Vegas...final flight about 1 hr+

 

UAL allows seat selection with booking no fee

I still.need to contact Hong Kong Airlines and ANA about seat selection. Hong Kong Airlines flight is 3hr+ seat selection not a big priority after the 15+hr flight to HKG. 3 hours is like a nap.

Have never flown UAL internationally. No idea what to expect regarding service. But I will survive.

 

 

 

 

 

  • Like 1
  • 3 weeks later...
Posted
On 28/06/2024 at 03:13, 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.

With Emirates going from Bangkok to Glasgow it is about 6hrs to Dubai and another 6hrs to Glasgow. If you are on a return trip that's you having to pay double for booking a seat on the two planes as you would say from Bangkok to Amsterdam with KLM on one plane.

Posted

just looked on google flights for when ive already booked in june for a 5 week trip from manchester to bkk.came back with klm out airfrance back £597.1hr 10 stop over on way out 2hr 40 min stop over on way back.yet my qatar flight ive booked already is up round £800 mark ive payed just over £700 when i booked back in sept

Posted

Airline pricing is driven by competition.  During COVID and the early ramp-up post COVID, there just wasn’t the volume of flights as before, so prices were higher.  That has changed slowly over the past 2 years, so prices have come down.

one issue I’ve noted (having been in Thailand most of the past 5 months and traveling around a fair bit), the Chinese have not come back in numbers.  So, those flights are not yet in the mix.  That has to have an effect.

The other thing I think I noticed, but really haven’t figured out yet, is the airline pricing algorithms.  IMO something is going on there that we all haven’t quite figured out yet.  I was looking to book my wife a flight from BKK to Milan last October.  When I started looking in June or July, the prices were crazy, like 1200+ round trip.  I was telling the wife she may not get to go because the prices were too high … in the past we paid 5-600 USD for those flights.  Kept checking though, and in late August, I suddenly was able to get her a ticket for 6-700 USD and booked it.  That got me thinking that they changed the algorithm… booking way in advance is no longer the best strategy (?? … a theory).  Curious what others' experiences have been ….

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