I just looked at the prices to India from UK in September which is when i usually go and they are the same as usual about £500 return. I then looked at flights to Thailand and they are around £700 return, not sure if this is the usual price. My gut feeling tells me that when India/Thailand/USA, anywhere really, opens up the prices will shoot up at first maybe they will double as I am sure they will still be able to sell the seats.
Anybody got any thoughts on this ?

tightenupvolume1 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 23, 2021 4:26 pm I just looked at the prices to India from UK in September which is when i usually go and they are the same as usual about £500 return. I then looked at flights to Thailand and they are around £700 return, not sure if this is the usual price. My gut feeling tells me that when India/Thailand/USA, anywhere really, opens up the prices will shoot up at first maybe they will double as I am sure they will still be able to sell the seats.
Anybody got any thoughts on this ?

I have a bunch of coupons for sale if you're interested.

No way I would take the risk of buying a 500-700 GBP ticket six months in advance at this time.

crob wrote: ↑Tue Feb 23, 2021 4:59 pm supply demand, the demand for travel once the borders open is going to be high, so don't expect cheap flights for some time

Very hard to argue with this logic at the moment. Airlines are going to want to re-fill their coffers ASAP.

B A are selling tickets to Bombay right now for £500 to fly in September, I assume that once I have paid for it they can't up the price ? When India opens up and if B A decide to charge a £1000 return maybe Virgin will charge £800 and Air India £700 and so on. It's a gamble, I have emailed BA and asked if i can re arrange flights if the borders are still closed in September.

Kammekor wrote: ↑Tue Feb 23, 2021 4:51 pm

tightenupvolume1 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 23, 2021 4:26 pm I just looked at the prices to India from UK in September which is when i usually go and they are the same as usual about £500 return. I then looked at flights to Thailand and they are around £700 return, not sure if this is the usual price. My gut feeling tells me that when India/Thailand/USA, anywhere really, opens up the prices will shoot up at first maybe they will double as I am sure they will still be able to sell the seats.
Anybody got any thoughts on this ?

I have a bunch of coupons for sale if you're interested.

No way I would take the risk of buying a 500-700 GBP ticket six months in advance at this time.

coupons from which airline ?

The thinking is that long haul flights will go up in price. This is due to the trending fall in business class customers who's ticket prices are used to subsidise the cheaper economy tickets.

Less business class customers = an increase in the price of economy seats.

I think this is going to depend quite heavily on your origin (and destination).

Long haul from the west coast of America to Asia (even SE Asia) for example is normally extremely competitively priced, but during the pandemic the prices have gone up markedly because anyone who's flying right now is flying because they have to, not because they are price sensitive. Airlines aren't competing with each other for customers right now, especially given that to some places - like here - there are a very minimal number of flights in and out. I would expect on these types of routes, there will be an initial bump once things "open" before the prices normalise again.

But since I have a hard time seeing many countries easing quarantine or vaccination restrictions on - for example - Americans for the foreseeable future or even all at once, this is difficult to forecast. I think if there are good flight deals to be had, they will be regional in nature as countries open up green lanes with their near neighbours as Singapore as done, and capacity returns to those markets.

tightenupvolume1 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 23, 2021 6:05 pm B A are selling tickets to Bombay right now for £500 to fly in September, I assume that once I have paid for it they can't up the price ? When India opens up and if B A decide to charge a £1000 return maybe Virgin will charge £800 and Air India £700 and so on. It's a gamble, I have emailed BA and asked if i can re arrange flights if the borders are still closed in September.

I would suppose that it's a gamble. I'm sure BA will take your £500, but whether the flight you book actually departs is another thing entirely, and then you're in to the '£500 transferable coupon' that you can put towards the £800 flight departing a week or two later. I don't doubt that there will be an element of competition around pricing, but at the same time, it wouldn't be beyond the realms of belief that airlines may "work cooperatively" to maintain inflated prices for a while?? I certainly wouldn't put it past them.

In recent years, Flights UK - Thailand are usually £4-500 return
Thai Airways + EVA are about £400 one way £500 return
Emirates usually around the £400 one way £450 return


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