extra peak season flights not filling

[ozfflyer]

talking to a few airline industry people & it seems some airlines have put on extra flights over normally very busy Xmas school holidays & they might now be regretting it, but very hard to cancel them now, without major disruption to passengers booked on these flights.

So airlines are stuck between a rock & a hard place.

Do they now dump these seats at a small loss, or at a bigger loss later ? (all the economic new is bad)

Flights have heard that aren't selling are

1. the Qantas BNE/LAX direct evening flights QF 55 (for DEC-JAN up to 6 a week from 2 to 3 a week)

2. the Fiji Airways NAN/LAX direct early am flights FJ 812, 12, 19 & 26DEC @ 0715/2215-1 (yes they arrive LAX day before they depart), as nothing except a BNE/NAN 737 seems to connect at NAN

3. the Fiji Airways additional flights NAN/NRT at end of DEC

Noticed some price cutting to LAX & NRT but don't think reduced prices are working. Where does that leave them ?


Noticed in media yesterday, that lots of talk about exchange rate against USD$, but really only fallen a cent (1.5%) recently & when dollars falls a cent suddenly over some economic news, it tends to recover that cent over next week.

The travel media aren't that smart, as the last thing they should be talking about is exchange rates.

Like this ............

Travel may be about to get pricier as the Aussie dollar slumps to GFC lows – KARRYON

The collective ‘noooo’s’ of Australian travellers could almost be heard nation-wide over the weekend as the Aussie dollar hit GFC lows. And it’s all due to US-China tensions. The Australian […]

karryon.com.au

Luckily, many U.S. entities adjust their pricing to the exchange rate, so Australians end up paying less that local yanks.

Here often, it's got to be cheaper in Canada, because of the exchange rate, rather than looking at the actual price in AUD$.

 

[BAM1748]

The transpacific and Aus to Japan are two routes that are doing well. I wouldn't be worried about a flight in 4 months not selling, yield managers are on the case

 

[offshore171]

Jetstar is cancelling some OOL - NRT flights in December, and rebooking pax on the BNE CNS NRT service.

Not sure if this is demand related or for maintenance, but I have a feeling that forward bookings on tourist routes aren’t exactly where they could be.

 

[TheInsider]

1. the Qantas BNE/LAX direct evening flights QF 55 (for DEC-JAN up to 6 a week from 2 to 3 a week)

I reckon with the AA tie up happening, this will mitigate some of the risk.

 

[ozfflyer]

Jetstar is cancelling some BNE - NRT flights in December, and rebooking pax on the BNE CNS NRT service.

Not sure if this is demand related or for maintenance, but I have a feeling that forward bookings on tourist routes aren’t exactly where they could be.

if things got really desperate & 1/2 a widebody aircraft remained empty, a 737 could do NAN/HNL/LAX. Remember that enter air of Poland used to fly Warsaw in Poland I think it was to Thailand "direct" with a tech stop at Sharjah for fuel.

Talking to a boss of 1/2 dozen or so travel agencies with around 50 staff, who said people are shopping around like crazy people. He said 10 years sgo or less, agents were paid a decent commission by airlines. Then airlines cut commission to almost zero & many agents switched to selling cruises. Cruising seems to be booming. Now in a recession, the airlines desperately need agents, as airlines are order takers & don't sell anything. The real sales people are the agents. Think many airlines, thought the internet, would reduce costs & somehow act as sales people, but you can't talk to a dumb computer.

 

[ozfflyer]

The transpacific and Aus to Japan are two routes that are doing well. I wouldn't be worried about a flight in 4 months not selling, yield managers are on the case

don't know about that. Some low fares coming out in peak season right now.

 

[AIRwin]

Jetstar is cancelling some BNE - NRT flights in December, and rebooking pax on the BNE CNS NRT service.

You mean OOL-NRT?

 

[ozfflyer]

You mean OOL-NRT?

no think offshore means, BNE/CNS & CNS/NRT. They may offer those on cancelled flight the option to go OOL/NRT. If you lived on southside of BNE it might be worth saving the 3.5 hour longer transit time via CNS. OOL/NRT direct is 9 hours. BNE/CNS/NRT is 12.5 hours.

EDIT
ignore what i just said above. Did JQ ever fly BNE/NRT direct ?

 

[AIRwin]

Did JQ ever fly BNE/NRT direct ?

I don't believe so, but JQ used to operate between MEL and NRT before QF took over...

 

[offshore171]

You mean OOL-NRT?

Yes sorry that should have read OOL. Have updated the post accordingly.

 

[ozfflyer]

some yield managers seem to have been asleep, but now have woken up. Share market seems to have had a minor crash.

Associate booked some flights to USA last week, departing in early January. 2 families consisting of 4 adults & 4 brats. Didn't get around paying the $14k odd airfares & so rebooked it today & price had dropped for same flights to $12k. Yes know, could be as simple as a few people changing their flights away from what he had booked, but could also be yield managers cutting.