In message <1rF*ixhFz@news.chiark.greenend.org.uk>, at 16:41:05 on Wed,
13 Mar 2024, Theo remarked:
>Michael Kilpatrick wrote:
>> I'm flying to Washington DC in May to bury my head in the Duke Ellington
>> manuscripts at the Smithsonian. I'm wondering whether there is any value
>> in taking the cheapo flight from Stansted via Rekjavic with some airline
>> I've never heard of, in the daytime on the Sunday but trying to get a
>> one-way ticket back via BA/Lufthansa/usual suspects on the direct
>> overnight flights to Heathrow.
>
>STN-KEF-IAD on 3rd May
>IAD-KEF-STN on 12 May
>both on Play airlines £326
>(not sure if that's a through ticket or not)
>
>LGW-KEF-BWI on 4 May
>BWI-KEF-LGW on 13 May
>both on Icelandair £470
>
>or same dates LGW-BOS-DCA and return on Jetblue £517
>
>Nonstop LHR-IAD and IAD-LHR on 4/12 May on Delta £664
>
>and many variations of the same.
>
>IAD to LHR one way on 11 May on United $708
>
>So a one way nonstop is almost the same price as a return. So halve the
>price going via Iceland with a stop each way.
A different day and the numbers (and ratios) will be different, but
broadly similar. A relative has just flown in from the USA, because
departing there on a Tuesday is least in demand and therefore cheapest.
>Prices from matrix.itasoftware.com and kiwi.com
>(beware kiwi gluing together low cost airline fares, there's trouble if
>things go wrong)
>
>> As for silly pricing, I was going to do the usual Sunday daytime then
>> Friday night overnight return, but I discovered these days there is a
>> massive price hike on most airlines if you do that, and it's better to
>> fly back on Saturday. Even cheaper to fly Saturday to Saturday, but that
>> means a Sunday with nowt to do in DC and an extra hotel night.
>
>That's the 'Saturday night away' rule.
A trick to try to extract more money from businessmen, who don't want
the wasted time that rule implies (as I described the other day).
>> It's just an extremely IRRITATING load of nonsense, all of it.
>
>Pre-US airline deregulation in 1978, prices were fixed to be 'reasonable'.
>Trouble was, that's much more in real terms than you're paying today.
>
>Theo
--
Roland Perry
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