Are fares usually cheaper on AA.com ??

[NM]

Well then I wonder why in the past couple of days the fares went from cheaper than QF to more expensive, if not for the fuel fine?
Has it been due to changing the fare classes from the deep discount bucket to one of the higher fares? I will keep looking at aa.com but unless the situation returns to what it previously was AA will be losing my revenue.

Also note that QF offers N and O fare via their web site. These are only available for sale in Australia and/or from qantas.com.au. So AA cannot sell these lowest priced fares via aa.com.

AA sells QF fares starting with S class as their lowest price. So the S fare without fuel fines and GST (for domestic flights) was often cheaper than QF's N or O fare. Now that AA is including the fuel fines in their S fare, the difference is GST. And as Dave points out, S fare with AA's fuel fine and no GST is still often cheaper than QF's N or O with both fuel fine and GST.

So for QF domestic fares where S is less than 10% higher than N or O, aa.com will likely still be cheaper. And you get the benefits of more availability and a changable and upgradeable fare.

 

[Altair]

Also note that QF offers N and O fare via their web site. These are only available for sale in Australia and/or from qantas.com.au. So AA cannot sell these lowest priced fares via aa.com.

AA sells QF fares starting with S class as their lowest price. So the S fare without fuel fines and GST (for domestic flights) was often cheaper than QF's N or O fare. Now that AA is including the fuel fines in their S fare, the difference is GST. And as Dave points out, S fare with AA's fuel fine and no GST is still often cheaper than QF's N or O with both fuel fine and GST.

So for QF domestic fares where S is less than 10% higher than N or O, aa.com will likely still be cheaper. And you get the benefits of more availability and a changable and upgradeable fare.

The fact that AA does not have N & O can explain some of the findings, I did look at different dates. I also recall that when I did some bookings and checked aa.com they were more expensive than QF, earlier in the year. This was when QF was charging $124 for WLG-SYD, which was way lower than their advertised sale. Got a couple of flights with that price.:mrgreen:

 

[Dave Noble]

The fact that AA does not have N & O can explain some of the findings, I did look at different dates. I also recall that when I did some bookings and checked aa.com they were more expensive than QF, earlier in the year. This was when QF was charging $124 for WLG-SYD, which was way lower than their advertised sale. Got a couple of flights with that price.:mrgreen:

N and O not appearing is not a general issue, just mainly a domestic issue.

The O class fare (OPTWEB fare basis iirc) does not list on Sabre and in N class there is only an NSXO fare which has a sales restriction that it is only for sale within Australia/New Zealand

With international fares, if the fare is available for sale in the US, then AA will tend to offer it ime

Dave

 

[JohnK]

AA sells QF fares starting with S class as their lowest price. So the S fare without fuel fines and GST (for domestic flights) was often cheaper than QF's N or O fare. Now that AA is including the fuel fines in their S fare, the difference is GST. And as Dave points out, S fare with AA's fuel fine and no GST is still often cheaper than QF's N or O with both fuel fine and GST.

When you say "still often cheaper" do you mean the busiest destinations? eg SYD-MEL, SYD-BNE etc.

Looking on QF website at return airfare SYD-HBA in mid-November the red e-deal is A$374 return. On AA website the cheapest return airfare (SXPI) is US$338.10 or ~A$456.

Looking on QF website at return airfare SYD-MEL at end-May the red e-deal is A$250 return. On AA website the cheapest return airfare (SXPI) is US$220.80 or ~A$298.

Flexibility would be nice but considering I purchase red e-deals most times I cannot justify the higher price.

YMMV

 

[NM]

When you say "still often cheaper" do you mean the busiest destinations? eg SYD-MEL, SYD-BNE etc.

I make no assertion about any specific routes. When the red-e-deals are sold out, AA is likely to be cheaper. When the difference between red-e-deal and S is less than 10%, then AA is likely to be cheaper.

If red-e-deal is available and its better than 10% cheaper than S, then QF will be cheaper.

Its purely a percentage game. If the differnce between QF's cheapest and S class greater or less than the GST saving will determine which is cheapest.

Personally I don't buy from aa.com, nor do I buy red-e-deals. So its really does not affect me. The lowest fare I have had in the last 10 years of travel is K class.

 

[Dave Noble]

At the moment, the QF O fare for SYD-HBA from qantas.com is $187 and the N fare is $214 plus a $4 credit card fee

The S fare from AA.com is USD168.90 which comes to $221

Comparing the S fare from AA to the N fare from QF there is about a $7 difference. When taking the credit card fine into account there is a $3 difference is buying a oneway or $10 if buying a round trip

Obviously, comparing the $221 against theO class $187+cc fee , the QF fare still wins

For those crediting to AA, the extra $3-$5 against the N fare would hopefully not make too much of an impact in earning

If booking a flight where red-e-deals are sold out, then the AA S fare of $221 is better than the QF S fare of $247 plus cc fee and does save $29-$31.

I often buy cheap tickets and the saving on S class does effectively open up a larger choice of flights for a red-e-deal level fare since the S fares are typically close to the N fares ime

It is a shame that AA are now applying the YQ charge since SYD-CBR for $95 for an S fare was so much better than the $115 for an O class from qantas.com

On the SYD-MEL run, O class is $125 and N class is $145 from qantas plus $4 credit card fee
From AA, the S fare is USD110.4 , which comes to $144.53 , so is cheaper by $2.50-$4.50 than the fare from Qantas ( assuming paying by credit card )

It is v unlikely that the O red-e-deal from qantas.com will be more expensive than the S fare from AA ( I doubt that this would ever happen ), but against the N class red-e-deal it does, ime, tend to come out close to and sometimes cheaper than qantas.com

Dave

 

[Altair]

What about the higher fares? Is aa.com the less/same/more than Qantas?
As I said before I will continue to compare both but from what Dave has indicated aa.com maybe cheaper the closer to the date of travel eg. when the lower fare buckets are empty.
Oh if you buy from aa.com are you guaranteed to get a fare class that counts towards AAdavantage?
(Edited for spelling)

 

[Dave Noble]

What about the higher fares? Is aa.com the less/same/more than Qantas?
As I said before I will continue to compare both but from what Dave has indicated aa.com maybe cheaper the closer to the date of travel eg. when the lower fare buckets are empty.
Oh if you buy from aa.com are you guaranteed to get a fare class that counts towards AAdavantage?
(Edited for spelling)

When you buy on AA.com for a domestic flight, you are guaranteed a mileage earning fare since AA.com will not offer you an N fare ( which is the only ineligable class )

The only time where qantas.com will win is if it is selling red-e-deals; once these are sold out then the qantas.com fare should be 10% higher than the aa.com fare every time due to the GST

Dave

 

[JohnK]

The S fare from AA.com is USD168.90 which comes to $221

Comparing the S fare from AA to the N fare from QF there is about a $7 difference. When taking the credit card fine into account there is a $3 difference is buying a oneway or $10 if buying a round trip

Only trivial but if you are going to include credit card fine when paying QF then you need to also take into consideration the 2%-2.5% foreign currency exchange fee when paying AA with credit card. An extra ~A$10-A$14 on return trip using above example is small but with higher priced airfares the QF airfare only increases by a constant $4.40 for return trip wheras the AA airfare increases by 2%-2.5% depending on credit card used.

With higher fare classes AA website still remains the most attractive option but if red e-deal is available then QF website would be better choice unless off course you are crediting flights towards AA.

 

[serfty]

As a self-employed person who's travel is 95% business, I effectively don't pay GST on for work related travel in Oz. I do up front, but claim it back as "Input Tax credits".

As a result, the implementation of charging by AA of the YQ component means that generally I now have little if any benefit in purchasing via AA.

 

[JohnK]

I am thinking of doing an F lounge run QF74/QF73 on June 17 and the return SYD-MEL red e-deal on QF website is ~$243 including credit card surcharge.

I thought I would try the AA website as fares are supposedly cheaper. The cheapest fare is LPXO for US$311.70 or ~A$380.

Anyone know if there has been an increase recently for QF domestic fares on AA?

 

[serfty]

... Anyone know if there has been an increase recently for QF domestic fares on AA?

In the period since this thread was first started, it has been noticed that AA have now varied their prices with a net effect of including fuel fines etc in their base fare. The only real variance these days between equivalent fares is with GST.

Another point is that you cannot purchase Qantas red e-deal 'type' fares (one way O & N Class) using AA.com.

 

[JohnK]

Another point is that you can not purchase red e-deal 'type' fare (one way O & N Class) on AA.com.

I know that but I did not think there was a lot of difference between O, N classes and S class.

I think you are right and they are now somehow including QF fuel surcharges in the base price. The total taxes for my example above was only US$11.70!