Airline tickets - why different maximum duration of trip

[Jleno]

Does anyone know why some airlines' tickets have long durations (eg 12 months on QANTAS) and others have short durations (eg 14 days on SQ) with others in between (eg 3-4 months on EK). These are even for their discount fares (I know they all have 12 month tickets, but with SQ and EK, they are normally full price fares). I book return flights out of Asia which means the only airline I fly with now is QF. I am curious however on how and why their model differs from QF.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Does anyone know why some airlines' tickets have long durations (eg 12 months on QANTAS) and others have short durations (eg 14 days on SQ) with others in between (eg 3-4 months on EK). These are even for their discount fares (I know they all have 12 month tickets, but with SQ and EK, they are normally full price fares). I book return flights out of Asia which means the only airline I fly with now is QF. I am curious however on how and why their model differs from QF.

I think to a degree is depends on your destination as Europe was generally 12 months with some specials to Asia valid 35 days, NZ 30 days, USA 2 months. I guess it was one way for airlines to charge you a higher fare if you wanted longer validity.

This was ages ago so rules have probably changed considerably now plus it's easier to buy discount one way fares in some cases of do a one way award ticket then a one way commercial fare back which avoids any minimum or maximum stay requirements.

There were clever (legal) ways around the USA 2 month ticket as sometimes you could buy a return fare to Europe via the USA both ways on UA for example & spend the bulk of your time in the US but at some stage fly to Europe and back to fulfil the minimum stay criteria in Europe eg 21 days.

 

[BoyZeus]

Stab in the dark here - in the past could the validity of tickets been aligned with the general visa requirements for that country?

 

[SQ421]

Potentially to prevent smart people form using an el-cheapo 12 month ticket to reposition themselves to a point of origin that has cheap(er) r/t fares than your current location.

(I guess one needs to be thinking on a tangent to come up with that reason!)


More likely, is that airlines prefer to differentiate restrictions at different price points. So, want a 12 month ticket with flexiblity? Pay higher premium for it. Just need to get from A to B and back in 10 days? Here's an el-cheapo fare that earns 50% miles if that.

 

[shellthom]

Might is also have something to do with forcing people who are paying a minimal amount to travel within the airlines non peak times within the zones of travel so that they can assure themselves a better profit margin during peak??

 

[Knid]

Also the one that I've never understood is having a one-way ticket with a minimum stay requirement!?