Strange Fares on Finnair

Status
Not open for further replies.

OZDUCK

Established Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2010
Posts
3,642
Since I cancelled our CX fares to Frankfurt because of their dropping one of our flights I have been looking for an alternative flight. One option has been to use Finnair out of Singapore - which we have done previously. However, as the title says, their prices are hard to understand. (Obviously there will always be a transfer in Helsinki both ways on these flights.)

The lowest price for a "direct" Finnair Business Class Singapore /Frankfurt/ Singapore flight on our dates in August (Dept. 18 or 19/8 Ret. 20/9) is Sing.$4,798 (around A$5,171). We could save around $500 by choosing an option to fly CX Sin to Hong Kong to pick up AY on the way to Frankfurt. On the return trip we would fly AY to Singapore. And we still would have to pay for flights to/from Singapore, so not really worth the effort.

Alternatively we could, on an AY ticket, fly Perth to Singapore in QF J to hook up with AY. On the way back it would be AY to Hong Kong and then CX to Singapore. This fare is A$4,277 So it is nearly $900 cheaper to fly out of Perth. We then would only have to separately pay for the Sin - Per leg. Even if we chose the option to fly Singapore to Hong Kong in the first scenario it would still be dearer than flying from Perth.

So it is cheaper to fly Perth/Singapore/Frankfurt/Hong Kong/Singapore with J flights on 3 different airlines than Singapore/Frankfurt/Singapore purely on AY. How in the name of fare management can this make sense?
 
The Frequent Flyer Concierge team takes the hard work out of finding reward seat availability. Using their expert knowledge and specialised tools, they'll help you book a great trip that maximises the value for your points.

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

Since I cancelled our CX fares to Frankfurt because of their dropping one of our flights I have been looking for an alternative flight. One option has been to use Finnair out of Singapore - which we have done previously. However, as the title says, their prices are hard to understand. (Obviously there will always be a transfer in Helsinki both ways on these flights.)

The lowest price for a "direct" Finnair Business Class Singapore /Frankfurt/ Singapore flight on our dates in August (Dept. 18 or 19/8 Ret. 20/9) is Sing.$4,798 (around A$5,171). We could save around $500 by choosing an option to fly CX Sin to Hong Kong to pick up AY on the way to Frankfurt. On the return trip we would fly AY to Singapore. And we still would have to pay for flights to/from Singapore, so not really worth the effort.

Alternatively we could, on an AY ticket, fly Perth to Singapore in QF J to hook up with AY. On the way back it would be AY to Hong Kong and then CX to Singapore. This fare is A$4,277 So it is nearly $900 cheaper to fly out of Perth. We then would only have to separately pay for the Sin - Per leg. Even if we chose the option to fly Singapore to Hong Kong in the first scenario it would still be dearer than flying from Perth.

So it is cheaper to fly Perth/Singapore/Frankfurt/Hong Kong/Singapore with J flights on 3 different airlines than Singapore/Frankfurt/Singapore purely on AY. How in the name of fare management can this make sense?
It is strange and was wondering myself how AY price up their fares as we have been looking at them to return from North America.
I priced up YYZ-SIN and it was $2200 one way (YYZ-LHR on BA, LHR-HEL on AY, HEL-SIN on AY) but when I went to the multi city took it priced up $110 cheaper to go YYZ-LHR on BA, LHR-HEL on AY, HEL-HKG on AY and HKG-SIN on CX 😳
Maybe with the slump in HKG traffic they are trying to get loads up on the HEL-HKG route?
 
It is strange and was wondering myself how AY price up their fares as we have been looking at them to return from North America.
I priced up YYZ-SIN and it was $2200 one way (YYZ-LHR on BA, LHR-HEL on AY, HEL-SIN on AY) but when I went to the multi city took it priced up $110 cheaper to go YYZ-LHR on BA, LHR-HEL on AY, HEL-HKG on AY and HKG-SIN on CX 😳
Maybe with the slump in HKG traffic they are trying to get loads up on the HEL-HKG route?
Yes, your example seems to be similar to mine. The Hong Kong problems are obviously affecting price. But I still can't get my head around how including an extra 4,000 km trip in J on a an airline like QF can reduce the price.
 
Were you seeing those low prices by searching direct on the AY website or were they showing up in places like Google Flights, ITA, Skyscanner etc. ?
 
Were you seeing those low prices by searching direct on the AY website or were they showing up in places like Google Flights, ITA, Skyscanner etc. ?

Direct on Finnair. I had a quick look a minute ago and they are still there, if not as much a saving. It is approximately $350 cheaper, in J, to fly Per - Sin - Germany - Sin than just Sin - Germany - Sin. For my dates in August/September it was something like $4,170 Sing compared to $4,112 Aud. This was on a "multi-city" trip.

(As an aside, I ended up booking with Madrooster as, while no cheaper, he made a couple of routing suggestions that were of use to us.)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Enhance your AFF viewing experience!!

From just $6 we'll remove all advertisements so that you can enjoy a cleaner and uninterupted viewing experience.

And you'll be supporting us so that we can continue to provide this valuable resource :)


Sample AFF with no advertisements? More..
Back
Top