Discussion: Nice!
in: PG; PG > 2011-09-27
Sep 28, 2011 11:03 AM
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I am so jealous! It looks like a really great trip. Price seems good, too. That is about what we are paying for our flight to Venice, probably leaving here about when you will be coming back.
Sep 28, 2011 11:39 AM
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Yes, often worthwhile to check out all the carriers on code sharing flights -- big difference on price, particularly overseas!
Sep 28, 2011 12:13 PM
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feet:
There are about 100 different reasons why codeshares price differently than the foreign carrier-coded flight.
The most frequent one is the Fly America Act. Those with travel funded by the US Government have to book on a flight number with an American-based code, so these travelers can book the US codeshare but not the TK code. They are often willing to pay more, so it's profit-maximizing to price the codeshare higher. Thank Congress' protectionist instincts for this piece ofidiocycorporate welfare.
Likewise there are probably a few people who look only on usairways.com to buy a ticket. These people will never know that they could have saved a lot of money to buy the exact same product from the operating carrier.
A related reason is that the contract between TK and US may only give US a very small part of the fare. In that case they have no incentive to offer cheap fares on the codeshare; they don't expect to sell many of the tickets but better sell a few than none.
Finally, and most likely in this case, the real point of this codeshare may be so US can sell full fare tickets only, so that they can offer Istanbul as a destination to corporate travelers with a corporate contract; more destinations makes them a more attractive carrier to corporate negotiating offices. I think this is actually the main reason in this case since it looks like the US fare at $1700 has no advance purchase requirement (you can buy that fare to fly tonight if you want).
Summary: US Airways was never actually expecting you to pay the $1700 fare. They are only competing for last-minute full fare tickets. If anyone were stupid enough to pay them $1700 for something they could have bought from TK directly for much less, good for US Airways.
The most frequent one is the Fly America Act. Those with travel funded by the US Government have to book on a flight number with an American-based code, so these travelers can book the US codeshare but not the TK code. They are often willing to pay more, so it's profit-maximizing to price the codeshare higher. Thank Congress' protectionist instincts for this piece of
Likewise there are probably a few people who look only on usairways.com to buy a ticket. These people will never know that they could have saved a lot of money to buy the exact same product from the operating carrier.
A related reason is that the contract between TK and US may only give US a very small part of the fare. In that case they have no incentive to offer cheap fares on the codeshare; they don't expect to sell many of the tickets but better sell a few than none.
Finally, and most likely in this case, the real point of this codeshare may be so US can sell full fare tickets only, so that they can offer Istanbul as a destination to corporate travelers with a corporate contract; more destinations makes them a more attractive carrier to corporate negotiating offices. I think this is actually the main reason in this case since it looks like the US fare at $1700 has no advance purchase requirement (you can buy that fare to fly tonight if you want).
Summary: US Airways was never actually expecting you to pay the $1700 fare. They are only competing for last-minute full fare tickets. If anyone were stupid enough to pay them $1700 for something they could have bought from TK directly for much less, good for US Airways.
This discussion thread is closed.