Help! Baffled by inconsistent pricing for Perth/London flights

[Guest jamesj]

Hello - new member, first post!

 

Working at one of the Unis in Perth at the moment, and fancied popping back to blighty to see the family sometime in July/August.

 

Now, according to the Qantas website,

 

flights -

heathrow-perth perth-heathrow = 500 quid - fine, no major shakes.

perth-heathrow heathrow perth = 1800 dollars!?!!

 

what on earth is going on?! is there any way of booking flights from the UK with the nominal 'return' date before the departure date?

 

I don't understand why there's such a major pricing difference. :huh:

James

[Mongrel]

Hello - new member, first post!

 

Working at one of the Unis in Perth at the moment, and fancied popping back to blighty to see the family sometime in July/August.

 

Now, according to the Qantas website,

 

flights -

heathrow-perth perth-heathrow = 500 quid - fine, no major shakes.

perth-heathrow heathrow perth = 1800 dollars!?!!

 

what on earth is going on?! is there any way of booking flights from the UK with the nominal 'return' date before the departure date?

 

I don't understand why there's such a major pricing difference. :huh:

James

 

Singapore have a bit of a war at mo , we`ve been quoted around $5000 for the 2 of us , everywhere , mate on here gave me the heads up and booked with singapore $2800 return ,have a gander at the singapore site

[Guest jamesj]

Emirates are offering $1602 return for 1 adult flying out in late july. perth-heathrow-perth

 

£750ish in old money?

 

However if you do heathrow-perth-heathrow for similar dates, you can get the round trip for £550ish - again, from emirates.

 

Seems like a bit of a swindle!? :nah:

 

I'm almost tempted to book a single from perth to london, then book a return london-perth-london for £550 with a view to head home again at christmas...

[Mongrel]

Emirates are offering $1602 return for 1 adult flying out in late july. perth-heathrow-perth

 

£750ish in old money?

 

However if you do heathrow-perth-heathrow for similar dates, you can get the round trip for £550ish - again, from emirates.

 

Seems like a bit of a swindle!? :nah:

 

I'm almost tempted to book a single from perth to london, then book a return london-perth-london for £550 with a view to head home again at christmas...

open tickets aremore expensive but no where you are at loked on ebookers manc perth £700 perth manc same flights ,day airlin etc £1100 .robbin goats singy $1400 return

[Guest SN8_Royals]

Most of the airlines sales have finished although cathay pacific and thai airways have just started one, so have a look at them.

 

www.bestflights.com.au or give them a call on 92282955 to speak to one of the friendly consultants they may be able to do a good deal.

 

Cheers Sarah

[sean and maureen]

This is a really really good flight search site. www.kayak.co.uk

 

Some flights in May are around 500 pds return London/Perth.

 

Hopefully this may help

 

Good luck

[Guest Tim]

This is a really really good flight search site. www.kayak.co.uk

 

Some flights in May are around 500 pds return London/Perth.

 

Hopefully this may help

 

Good luck

There is some good deals to be had - my mums flying out as a last minute thing next week (bought the tickets last week) for a month Glasgow to Perth with emirate for a touch over 500 pounds. Bobbie Bargain I thought!

 

Tim

[Mongrel]

There is some good deals to be had - my mums flying out as a last minute thing next week (bought the tickets last week) for a month Glasgow to Perth with emirate for a touch over 500 pounds. Bobbie Bargain I thought!

 

Tim

 

Save a lot if you are a solo flier as the cheap seats are usually the last and spread out so not very suitable for families

[Guest proud2beaussie]

Ok,There are various factors at work here.

It is always going to be more expensive to fly from Australia to the UK for a number of reasons.

The first is demand;Statistically there is a higher demand for flights from Australia to the Uk then there is the other way,I can show you 5 years of booking records to substantiate that,second is fuel ,it takes more fuel to fly a plane East to West than it does the other way,it's because of the jetstream,thirdly there are higher operating costs to operate a plane out of an Australian airport,costs such as air navigation charges,landing fees,immigration and customs charges,accomodation for crew etc,all these costs are much higher than in the UK.

The difference in costs on a flight from Aus to the UK are staggering and believe me I've been in this game long enough to know that most airlines make very little profit per seat on the UK route compared with the reverse.

[Guest jamesj]

Hi! thanks for the replies! Had a look at Cheap Flights, Airline Tickets, Cheap Airfare & Discount Travel Deals - Kayak.co.uk, looks pretty useful!

 

Re Nigel: Some good points!, the argument would make sense for a single flight, however a return from either starting point would require a flight from, and a flight to Australia in some order. The aeroplane the Aussies are leaving on (for their $1600 return tickets) is the same one the poms are returning on (for 500 quid return)).

 

Return prices should be about the same form either direction. It's the same planes, flights and airports. Guess it's just cynical demand based pricing again.

 

I've decided to get a single to the uk, then book return flights london to perth with 5 month gaps between the flights. Play the buggers at their own game...

[Guest proud2beaussie]

That's where the cost comes in,believe me there have been many inquiries into the cost of airfares from Australia and in each one the airlines have been shown not to collude on pricing for long haul passenger flights,they make next to no profit on passenger sales,all the money on the long haul routes is in freight.in fact if it wasn't for freight carried on Aus to Uk flights then fares would be on average 40% higher than they arlready are.

I have been in the industry a long time and it will never change.

And the fuel issue is major ,the difference in fuel flying east to west versus west to east accounts for at least 30% of the cost differential and the other fixed charges make up the rest.

I wish it was different then I would probably get more customers booking UK flights rather than the domestic stuff which I do most of and make very poor commission on.

BTW Don't forget to add Mr Darlings Airline Passenger Duty to the cost of flying from the UK (Heathrow) which in November goes up to $170.00 for each person and will keep going up,thanks to Mr Brown and his "Green" agenda.by the time 2011 comes around it will cost up to $400.00 extra to leave the UK on a flight to anywhere past Asia.