[statesideal]

i was checking online for a ticket to Scotland from Tampa, Fl for next June. the prices were pretty high, from 800 to 1200 dollars - PLUS TAX - wich makes the price of the ticket 1200 to 1700 bucks!!
so i went on to a UK site to see what the same flight would cost if i was booking it there.
i found the identical flight - Tampa-Newark-Edinburgh, only in reverse - Edinburgh-Newark-Tampa.
well from Edinburgh it would cost me 700 dollars. and from the USA ................ 1788!!!!!
i kid you not, over 1000 dollars more for the same flight, on the same day!!!
i find this amazing. how can they have the audacity to charge more, a thousand dollars more, from American passenger than a UK passenger?

so i called the 800 number and got this explanation " well, sir. thats just the way the prices are set" and their was no-one there who could offer any explanation for this.

so this is just another example of how these wonderful American companies are ripping us off!!
i hope these executives have a lovely summer vacation, cause i wont!!

[jimworcs]

It can also often happen the other way round too. For example, if people from Europe want to fly to the US, and travel via London, the cost of their ticket is often considerably cheaper than those who fly from London directly, particularly on BA. Club class tickets have massive differences in price, and the airlines will cancel your ticket if you try to by pass the system by "pretending" to be located elsewhere. However, if you know someone in Scotland who can book your flight with their credit card, and an address based in Scotland, you can still book the flight in your name. I have done this myself and it works fine. This was recently exposed on the BBC, whereby people who booked the Eurostar train from London to Paris from the American website paid 30% less for their tickets than people who booked the same journey from the UK site. Eurostar's explanation was that it was an example of the "free market". They have now amended their policy and it is possible to book your tickets from whichever site you choose without penalty, so public pressure can work.

[Leatherboy2006]

Also make sure it was not quoting you in LBs or scottish currancy which sometimes they do when your checking from another country.

[abutterfinger25]

Leatherboy has a solid point here. Some folks just see the number and not the currency designation and just assume it is in US Dollars when it could be in British Pounds

[statesideal]

i was aware that i was looking at the prices in GBP, it was 399 pounds sterling, which equated to 690 dollars yesterday.

so, jimworcs, you just get someone to book the trip for you and send you the tickets then use use the trip however you want, is that right? this is a good piece of knowledge, thank you.

[abutterfinger25]

What sites were your looking at? Where they both Continental sites?

[statesideal]

but i am still disgusted at the sheer greed of these airlines! i mean a thousand dollars more for americans than british???
they need to have more exposure type programmes on the tv over here, things like Watchdog who highlight problems like this to the public

[statesideal]

i was looking at cheapflights.co.uk and the continental website

[abutterfinger25]

Okay, you can not place the whole blame for the price difference on Continental Airlines. Continental (and other airlines) are not responsible for the fares punblished on sites such as cheapflights.co.uk (and cheapflights.com).

Now if cheapflights sells the same tickets at different fares for the same flights based on a person's country of origin, they might be some disriminatory issues here. I may have to do some additional research.

[statesideal]

so explain how they can book a flight from here but we can't book one from there?

[statesideal]

i don't understand how, if you have an address in the UK you can book a trip starting in the States?

[abutterfinger25]

Originally Posted by statesideal

so explain how they can book a flight from here but we can't book one from there?

I was about to ask you to explain, but I went to the sites and see waht you mean. You can't book a ticket out of Tampa on the UK site (cheaptickets.co.uk) and can't booked a ticket outt of Endinburgh on the US site (cheaptickets.com). I am not sure why this is, and can only speculate that it has somethig to do with the manner in which the site is set up.

Cheaptickets seems to be different than the other online ticket services, such as Tavelocity and Orbitz, ect. In that Cheaptickets does not seem to actually sell the ticket, just directs you to another site. This could have something to do with the issue raised in the earlier paragraph.

I did run a quick flight request for Tampa to Edinburgh on the US site and Edinburgh to Tampa on the UK site. The dates I used was 11/16/08 departure and 11/26/08 return. Here is what I got...

Both sites directed me to choose from a number of recommended sites. I chose British Airways for both just to keep apples with the apples. (I was not given a choice for Continental).

From the US site, I was directed to a flight at 398 USD or 796 USD roundtrip.
From the UK site, I was directed to a flight at 243 BPS or 486 BPS roundtrip.

I don't know what the converstion rate is between USD and BPS but it does not like like the $1000 difference you sited in your first post. Of course, my variables are/were different than yours (different carrier, different dates, ect.).

[azstar]

Originally Posted by statesideal

so explain how they can book a flight from here but we can't book one from there?

Much of this has to do with marketing. Europe is not any U.S. Airline's home market, just like the U.S. is not home market to any foreign airline. Therefore, since there is less name recognition outside your own territory you have to price the product at a lower rate in order to sell it. That's often the case with foreign airlines flying from the U.S. too. It could be hundreds of dollars less to fly with British Airways if you're originating in U.S. than it is to originate your trip in Britain (their home market).

[statesideal]

in reply to abutterfinger25, in this instance i am aouting a price from the airline website. however, using american cheap fair sites, the difference is still substantial.

[jimworcs]

I used to live in NC, so did this regularly. I am not at all sure that it could be considered discriminatory, as they are different markets. You will find the UK residents may have cheaper flights, but we pay way over the odds for things like branded goods such as Nikes, electrical items and other goods which are much, much cheaper in the US (or at least they were until the dollar tanked!!).

[jimworcs]

Originally Posted by statesideal

i don't understand how, if you have an address in the UK you can book a trip starting in the States?

Yes, it is fine. You can book book the flight to originate in the US back to the UK for example from the UK. This is often done by British citizens who have second homes in the US, expatriates etc.. It is also often done in reverse US Servicemen serving on UK bases, or by parents paying for their kids on student exchanges to come home for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Airlines are used to bookings from one country which originate in another. The trick is to find someone in the UK willing to make the booking and charge it to a UK based Credit Card. If it is electronic tickets, there is no need to send tickets over.

[Jetliner]

Here's the deal. First of all there can be major differences in the taxes just based on the country you are booking from. I have run into this flying from the states to Germany. United and Lufthansa have a code share agreement. So when you look up flights from, say, Washington Dulles to Frankfurt, you will see a UA flight and a LH flight with quite a difference in final price, even though the base fare is the same. And if you look even closer, both are actually on the same fight. The LH flight is "Operated by United Airlines."

What it boils down to is what country you are buying the ticket in. You may be sitting in the US, but when you tell it you are staring in the UK, or you have a UK address, then you are buying the ticket in the UK.

The other problem with your first post is you said you found the same flight, but in reverse. So actually NO, you DID NOT find the same flight. Just because the routing has the same cities at either end means nothing.

[statesideal]

ok, i am now on the BA website. can anyone tell me why the taxes, fees, charges and surcharges amount to more than the price of the actual ticket?

[statesideal]

why does it not have any difference ? it is the same mileage, the same airports, same everything. whats the difference in a journey from glasgow to tampa via newark and tampa to glasgow via newark? i dont understand.

[statesideal]

when i go to look at flights from america to britain, and i am in america, it tells me that this is not possible; says" sorry but your departure is not served by this site". is there any specific site to do this from?

[Jetliner]

As for why the taxes are much higher than the airfare and why you can't book from the US, you would have to pose those question to the British government. Go to RyanAir.com and look up any of the fares they have that are free (they make up for it in fees.) A zero Euro fare will end up costing you anywhere from 25 to 50 Euros depending on where you are going.

Here's the deal - right now I am looking at Orbitz.com from Tampa to Frankfurt Germany (I was looking that up, and thought of your post)

Us Airways and Northwest have a base fare of $660, after taxes it's $778. On Air Canada base $559, after taxes $971. And on Lufthansa base fare is $679, after taxes (get ready for this) $1,043.

On your second question, it doesn't matter if it's the same milage and the like. How do you know that the flight from Europe is not more booked, hence the cheaper seats are sold out?

There's a lot that you are bashing the airlines for that in reality it's that you are not understanding how this all works. When flying internationally there is a lot more regulation in place by the governments of the different countries involved.

Let me put it to you this way -right now in the US gas is around $3 to $3.50 per gallon. In Germany it's more like $8 to $9 per gallon. Why? Because in Europe they tax the hell out of the people. Same is happening here.

[The_Judge]

statesideal.........you're really hung up on this, aren't you?? As it was explained earlier to you, it isnt' the same. When you start in the states, you aren't competing necessarily with someone starting in another country. It's called marketing. Your market may have a tremendous demand whereas the the return may not be so demanding for people originating there.

As far as why you can't get the same fare you might try this. Some airline websites have a box that asks you where you are. I for example live in Thailand so if I go to ANA's website, I will tell it I am in Thailand. If the websites you are dealing with offer this option, tell it that you are in Scotland and see what pops up for a price.

Then give it a rest. Your machine gun type posts tell alot about you.

[airhead]

As far as AA goes, tickets are sold accordingly to fares. Each flight has roughly somewhere between 10 - 20 fares. Usually the cheaper ones are bought off by the discount agencies such as Cheaptickets.com. And the fare prices are priced accordingly to market shares. The demand to fly from x to z will usually be different than flying from z to x. Times of the day and days of the week play a critical role. The more fares are sold, the higher the subsequent price will be. The value difference in currency is exchanged by the various banks conducting the transaction.

One should be able to book from another country if the airline does fly from that country and the bank of origin allows it. Their has to be an agreement with the booking agency to do this. A dot uk site may not honor an American credit card or booking since an agreement with the travel agency may not exist.

[Eagleguy]

The way the fares are calculated are done by direction. Eastbound vs. Westbound. Each country has different taxes that you pay. Going to or through the UK is extremely expensive. I am flying to London this weekend and the taxes are more than my actual fare.

By the way it's not the same flight if you changed directions...The westbound flight might have a ton of seats left to sell whereas the eastbound to Scotland had very few left. Btw, October is one of the cheapest months to buy tickets to the UK. I've seen fares as low as in the $200 range. But ah-ha those needed to be booked way in advance, have tons of restrictions, and will almost triple with taxes.

[jimworcs]

The truth is, the fare charged by airlines has absolutely no relationship to the distance travelled and indeed only a marginal relationship to the costs incurred in delivering the service. The price is determined by the market. For example, at Thanksgiving, demand for flights from the UK to the US will be very high just before the holiday and low the in the other direction. The reverse will then happen after the holiday. This is obviously because Thanksgiving is not celebrated in the UK, and americans will want to get home. Therefore, the pricing of these two legs will reflect demand. Low prices from the US to the UK, but high prices from the UK to the US. I have no problem with this in theory, but as we have seen in the financial markets, when markets are deregulated they are abused. I think we have reached the point at which passengers are abused by the airlines power and the market is now distorted. Time to reintroduce some regulation, because they are inadequately regulated now.

Taxes in Europe are considerably higher, as we operate "social" taxing strategies and demand is deliberately suppressed for items which are seen as socially damaging, such as polluting airplanes and cars. Therefore, prices will be higher in such cases. This is however often hidden by the ridiculous pricing of the tickets which make this relationship less obvious.