aircellist From Canada, joined Oct 2004, 1419 posts, RR: 9 Posted (3 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 3365 times:
I was looking up fares, to comment in FlySSC's thread about AF's summer schedule, and have been flabbergasted.
Just for fun, have a look at the fares on airfrance.com, right now... At the time of writing, 8:52pm in Montreal, saturday March 27th, the "cheapest" YUL-CDG ticket on april 1st is more expensive than the business class on the same day! 2994 USD against 2762 USD. I wonder whether it's a April's Fool joke...
I took screen capture of both fares, but I don't know if I can post them here...
blueflyer From United States of America, joined Jan 2006, 3126 posts, RR: 1 Reply 1, posted (3 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 3308 times:
It isn't the first time that a Y fare is cheaper than a discounted Business Class fare. It happens on more carriers than just AF too.
For whatever reasons, loads to CDG on April 1st are very high. Pick any other departure day within the week and the fare drops by over $1,500.00 in coach.
s4popo From United States of America, joined Nov 2008, 223 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (3 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 3298 times:
Airline revenue management doesn't always make sense. The itinerary you looked up is a last-minute airfare so you can throw rationality out the window. I wouldn't be surprised if Coach is sold out, but there's probably plenty of Business class seats available. Just my 2 cents.
Viscount724 From Switzerland, joined Oct 2006, 21495 posts, RR: 24 Reply 4, posted (3 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 3131 times:
You're also best to compare round trip fares. Almost nobody flies just one way and many airlines (except LCCs) don't spend a lot of time fiddling with one way fares since they're so rarely sold.
As others have said, it's not unusual for a Y fare to be higher than J, especially if Y is close to full and only the highest fare bucket is available, while in J there may be many open seats and the lower fare buckets may still be open for sale. Airlines with sophisticated revenue management systems like AF know what they have to do to maximize revenue on the flight.
CO787EWR From United States of America, joined Jul 2007, 222 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (3 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 3052 times:
I've known people who were only traveling one-way but bought round trip tickets since they were significantly cheaper...
FlyASAGuy2005 From United States of America, joined Sep 2007, 6520 posts, RR: 11 Reply 6, posted (3 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 2855 times:
This actually happened to my family once when we were stuck in SJU. There was a pretty bad storm in the area and we had been in PR for about 2 days trying to get out on stand-by. ALL airlines were oversold by 20-30 pax in the back and even DL was showing -3 to -5 in F. We finally decided to buy tickets back and AA's F was cheaper than the walk-up fare in coach. Only Y (or whatever their full fare coach code is) was available and it was about 70-$80 more than their cheapest seats in first so we opted for first for OBVIOUS reasons
CAM2:"Lightning coming out of that one." CAM1: "What?"
Rafabozzolla From Brazil, joined Apr 2000, 1165 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (3 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 4 hours ago) and read 2746 times:
It happened to me. Going to Europe in early Jan (high season in Brazil, two weeks advance purchase). It was cheaper to by C roundtrip than Y. It was a no brainier since Y was very expensive and Biz was selling for under 1.700 EUR.
aircellist From Canada, joined Oct 2004, 1419 posts, RR: 9 Reply 8, posted (3 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 2422 times:
Well, thank you for those comments. I naively never would have expected such a thing... Yet all your explanations make it clear. I think I better understand what "yield management" means now.
blueflyer From United States of America, joined Jan 2006, 3126 posts, RR: 1 Reply 9, posted (3 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 2385 times:
Quoting Viscount724 (Reply 4): You're also best to compare round trip fares.
FWIW, the result is the same on a R/T fare that I checked on using the OP's date of departure. It is truly a case of a restricted C cabin ticket being cheaper than a fully flexible Y class ticket.
Sponsor Message: 
From Canada, joined Oct 2004, 1419 posts, 
From United States of America, joined Jan 2006, 3126 posts, 
From , joined Dec 1969, posts, 
From Switzerland, joined Oct 2006, 21495 posts, 
From Brazil, joined Apr 2000, 1165 posts, 
Printer friendly format 
