new slant on mystery flights

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ozfflyer

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We all know all airlines are having trouble selling low season seats, especially long haul in economy & has been a bit of a race to the bottom, ie. one airline comes out with some loss leader fares & then others who do same route, either nonstop, direct or 1 stop, try to match it in some way.


Talking to an airline rep who said even at crazy low prices, they are not selling & forward bookings are just awful.


He said the airline is thinking about trying something different.


MYSTERY FLIGHTS

Many will remember the mystery flights domestically in OZ, where you’d book 1 for a day trip & day before you’d find out where you were going.

Well this is a new slant on this.

Rather than mystery destination, they will tell you in advance the route & choice of fixed dates in both directions (probably when they have more empty seats than other days) & the tell you the rough flight duration, BUT don’t tell you the airline until after you’ve paid.

He gave the example SYD/LONDON under 25 hours in both directions & not with any Chinese or Taiwanese airline, which probably means possibly 10 airlines & could be one airline in one direction & different in other or codeshare.

Only question seemed to be, do they need a list of airlines it could be on ?

& would you book & pay for a flight without knowing the airline, or is this just for the backpackers who have "no money" & will fly any airline if cheap.
 
I wouldn't do it myself but it isn't just backpackers with no money that might.
Some years ago when the mystery flights were on I had a patient in her 90s who had been a widow for 40 years.she would put aside some money from her pension and when she had enough would go down to BNE and ask about the mystery flights.If she didn't like the destination she would ask if there were any other destinations for the same price.I guess they took pity on her due to her age but she never had to drive back to the Sunny Coast without having been on a flight.For some reason she was one of my favourites.
 
The old Ansett mystery flights you wouldn't find the destination out until you arrived at the airport, but you knew the airline and that it had to be a domestic airport they flew to. On occasion they did over night ones bundled with mystery accommodation.

Dont think they can do international ones because of passenger needing to know destination to arrange travel insurance; and complications with different rule depending on nationality of passport held meaning different visa arrangements etc.

I wouldn't book an international mystery flight because i'm picky with which airlines I will fly and which countries i will and wont visit (even just for a connection).
 
I wouldn't do it myself but it isn't just backpackers with no money that might.
Some years ago when the mystery flights were on I had a patient in her 90s who had been a widow for 40 years.she would put aside some money from her pension and when she had enough would go down to BNE and ask about the mystery flights.If she didn't like the destination she would ask if there were any other destinations for the same price.I guess they took pity on her due to her age but she never had to drive back to the Sunny Coast without having been on a flight.For some reason she was one of my favourites.
so for you, if they said it was on one or 2 of the following airlines

SQ, EK, EY, MH

would that work for you ?
 
The old Ansett mystery flights you wouldn't find the destination out until you arrived at the airport, but you knew the airline and that it had to be a domestic airport they flew to. On occasion they did over night ones bundled with mystery accommodation.

Dont think they can do international ones because of passenger needing to know destination to arrange travel insurance; and complications with different rule depending on nationality of passport held meaning different visa arrangements etc.

I wouldn't book an international mystery flight because i'm picky with which airlines I will fly and which countries i will and wont visit (even just for a connection).
yes butwith this idea, you know the route in advance, you know the dates in advance, you just don't know which airline(s), but they could provide a short list. Airlines would like it, as they could sell some seats cheaply as the airline brand not affected, as not advertising super cheap seats.
 
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Wouldn't be a big list for most routes, unless you have some ugly connections
 
Not if it was Y or even Y+.
who else could you fly SYD/LON in Y that's better ?

Airline don't want to give away bus class, as they get many to buy an expensive Y class ticket before they can upgrade.
 
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Wouldn't be a big list for most routes, unless you have some ugly connections
so SYD/LHR without Chinese or Taiwanese airlines & if under 25 hours could only have 1 stop

QF, QR, EK, EY, SQ, MH, TG, TK, BA, AF or combination

who else ?

Don't think SK or AY could be done under 25 hours.
 
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Scoot for flights ex-SIN have introduced a similar concept to mystery flights, “Escape Class” with fares based on zones, and you can pay extra to exclude destinations from a zone (but still must be left with at least 3 destinations in the zone). This includes ATH and TXL in the same zone as MEL, SYD and OOL.


More here: Escape Class by Scoot
 
Scoot for flights ex-SIN have introduced a similar concept to mystery flights, “Escape Class” with fares based on zones, and you can pay extra to exclude destinations from a zone (but still must be left with at least 3 destinations in the zone). This includes ATH and TXL in the same zone as MEL, SYD and OOL.


More here: Escape Class by Scoot
maybe they'd have to say no LCCs only full service.
 
Almost certainly at a cost!!
probably at a loss, but better than seats going empty. If you buy these cheap seats, it doesn't matter how cheap some other airline comes out with, as these tickets won't be refundable.
 
probably at a loss, but better than seats going empty. If you buy these cheap seats, it doesn't matter how cheap some other airline comes out with, as these tickets won't be refundable.

No I meant at a cost to the consumer. Pay $200 to exclude low cost carriers. Or $40/carrier to exclude specific carriers.
 
No I meant at a cost to the consumer. Pay $200 to exclude low cost carriers. Or $40/carrier to exclude specific carriers.
no from what I gather, they just don't want to coughise the name of the airline & don't want to be seen dumping seats. They might do a short term "sale" such as SYD/LON, MEL/LON, BNE/LON although he did say some routes are selling better than others. Only those actually buying tickets, will find out the name of the airline. Might be 2 airlines involved.
 
So if you're doing a short term sale to London, what you're talking about is mystery carrier, not mystery flight ( which is usually that you don't know what your destination is, but usually would know the carrier).
 
So if you're doing a short term sale to London, what you're talking about is mystery carrier, not mystery flight ( which is usually that you don't know what your destination is, but usually would know the carrier).
they could call it whatever they like I suppose. Mystery flight to London on one of the following airlines (but the customer doesn't get to choose).

Still if you're only taking 25 hours or less, you're not going to be stuck around some transit port for many hours.
 
I think one of the big questions would be, how much cheaper? This probably isn't something I'd do but I know a lot of people who don't really care who they fly as long as they get to the destination in a reasonable amount of time. But to sell it there's going to need to be a decent price difference I think.
 
I think one of the big questions would be, how much cheaper? This probably isn't something I'd do but I know a lot of people who don't really care who they fly as long as they get to the destination in a reasonable amount of time. But to sell it there's going to need to be a decent price difference I think.
yeah I was wondering how much cheaper it would have to be too. $200 enough or $400 ?

Guess a family of 5, might go for $1000 saving, but an individual might not jump at $200 saving.
 
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