chawkins99

So, we're hoping to fly to the UK in May for my parents' diamond wedding anniversary.
Researching flights, the cheapest seems to be around $1900 return (Pensacola>Birmingham>Pensacola).
However, my nephew has just booked a 3-week trip to Mouse-world. 2,000 quid each including flights, hotel, park tickets and all transfers. How the hell can they do that.
So, checked ticket prices for UK-US... Birmingham>Pensacola>Birmingham... $900

So, the same routes/flights cost twice as much if originating in the US.

What gives????

tonrob

Does the box of cornflakes in Pensacola cost the same as the box in Birmingham?

Jerseygirl

Package holidays booked in the UK can be a great bargain. A few years ago we went on a 2 week Hawaiian cruise departing and arriving in LA. My sister and BIL flew from the UK to Vegas for 2 nights, then they flew to LA for 2 nights before boarding the ship. They paid the same price as we paid for the cruise only...flights from NYC/LA/NYC cost us a further $1K each. A few weeks ago we joined them for another cruise...they boarded the ship in Southampton we joined the ship when it arrived in NYC 7 days later. When then sailed to Rio...14 nights...spent several nights in Rio. They flew home to Heathrow...we flew to Toronto. They also had 3 excursions included in the price. The cost of their holiday was slightly less than ours...but their holiday was 29 days...ours was 22. .

I think many UK travel agents block book flights and hotels...thus getting great deals. The travel agent my sister used must have had several hundred people on the ship...and staying in the hotel. Apparently they normally have a desk/representative on the ship and there was 3 full time and 2 part time reps at the hotel during our stay. We booked with the same agent...but ours wasn't part of the block booking because we were traveling from NYC not London and flew back to Toronto

chawkins99

Yes. I get the package holiday thing and block bookings. But I'm talking about regular scheduled flights.
I just ran the same query on Delta.com.
PNS>MAN>PNS: $1600
MAN>PNS>MAN: £577
Same itinerary (albeit reversed), same routes, same aircraft but originating in the US 100% more

Correction: UK origin was in pounds so edited above... Still double the cost if originates in US.

JC3

Try Cheap Flights - Find Cheap Airline Tickets with Skyscanner
They show return flights in May at under $1,500.

JC3

chawkins99

Just tried the same on that site. Same flight originating in the UK is $900.

Back to the original question: Why is it so much more expensive to fly US-UK-US than UK-US-UK?

tonrob

Sorry - wasn't trying to be (too) flippant in my earlier comment, and your reaction is a common one. Almost everything (goods and services) has a different price when you compare the US and UK markets, but people baulk particularly when it comes to airfare for some reason. Perhaps because it's a bigger-ticket item? I guess it's the same when people in the UK are horrified when they realize how much cheaper cars and iPads (for example) are in the US.

On actually looking up Kelloggs cornflakes, I see that my local supermarket charges $4.29 for a box that's the same size as one sold in Tesco for GBP1.75 (so 73% more expensive in the US).

chawkins99

Again, I get that items may cost more (or less) in different markets due to production costs, transport costs, VAT, labour costs, retail costs etc. All of which would tend to make the UK more expensive.

But we're talking about the exact same services using the exact same aircraft, fuel, personnel, facilities etc.

I suspect the reason the airlines charge US customers more is simply "Because they can..."

Pulaski

Exactly! It's called "supply and demand", and that is how the free market works.

So, what's your point?

chawkins99

I guess I naively thought the free market and competition was supposed keep prices down.

I see it more of a cartel between the airlines, keeping prices artificially high.

celticgrid

Exactly. And it changes.

Many years ago when I was flying back and forth regularly it was cheaper to buy the ticket in the US than in the UK.

Guindalf

Basically, because more people want to travel TO the States than from it! Also, the location would effectively subsidize the flight cost to get visitors to come and spend tourist dollars.

Ok, so most people who fly to Florida will be spending money within the State whereas Manchester is hardly a vacation destination!

chawkins99

So, you're saying the state of Florida subsidizes Delta Airline tickets? I don't think so...

I get the same skewed results for Manchester/Atlanta.

If there is more demand to fly TO the US, I would think that would push prices UP.

Pulaski

Me neither!
Yes, he said that, so I'd take what he said with a large punch of salt.

Tarkak9

Point of origin airport (charges) can have alot to do with it too; for example, It often would be cheaper to fly out of Steamboat (connect in DIA) roundtrip than to fly out of DIA on the same (connecting) flight!

Actual seats in the plane have different pricing too .... and depending how close to departure too. Supply & Demand are the overall principle, but they do have a formula.

I also will clear my cache history when browsing certain sites; as I have found that it will have an effect on displayed fares.
- who remembers a few years ago, (was it expedia or priceline?) a travel site got exposed for their practices of displaying higher fares depending if the customer was using Apple vs PC!! ie, Apple users were paying more for the fare because they knew that, Apple users generally are willing to pay more for stuff!!