Pricing Scam

[merchanb]

EU TO INVESTIGATE ALLEGED PRICING SCAM
19 December 2003

The European Commission has demanded answers from 18 European airlines to see if they are charging varying prices for identical flights to residents of different EU countries.

The Commission, the European Union's executive body, said it had written to the airlines, including some of Europe's best known, asking them to explain the alleged price discrimination and expected answers by the end of February. Some of the prices quoted for identical flights had varied by up to 300 per cent depending on the customer's country of residence, it said.

The airlines are Aer Lingus, Air France, Alitalia, Austrian Airlines, British Midlands, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, KLM, Lufthansa, Luxair, Meridiana, Olympic Airways, Spanair, SAS, SN Brussels Airlines, TAP and Virgin Atlantic.

The suspected price discrimination was most prevalent when customers were buying tickets online, the Commission said. "Airlines typically use the postal address or the credit card address to determine the residence of a customer. Depending on the country of residency, they might then quote different prices," it said in a statement. "Price differences can be as high as 300 per cent," it said, adding that quotes for identical tickets had been examined with no differences on carriage conditions or date of travel which might have affected the price.

*****

EU? What about our own beloved Continental?

Log onto continental.com and check round-trip fares from cities in the US, (EWR, IAH, LAX, SEA, etc.) and GUM then compare to the fares from GUM and those same cities for the same flights on the same dates. (Interchange the “from” and “to” cities.) I just now checked the fare between two Continental hubs for 14 & 21 January. . . GUM-IAH-GUM ($1,481.76) as opposed to IAH-GUM-IAH $880.76.) This has been the situation for about as long as I can remember

If you don’t find the trips originating in Guam to be consistently at least 50% more expensive please let me know which ones because I live in Guam and frequently fly back to the land of milk and honey.

Yes, there are flies in paradise.

[Optimist1125]

I have relatives in smaller airport cities and have found the same thing.
I think the airlines, in general, charge whatever they think they can get.
And do get it, unfortunately.

[merchanb]

Guess it's just going to be less expensive for you to come visit me than for me to visit you.