Discounted Flights At The Airport

Lasdfghjkl123 on 02/06/2014 - 17:38

Hi there, I've got a question and I'm not sure who can help me out, and I thought that someone at OzBargain might be able to shed some light on this topic.

Does anyone know whether it's at all possible to rock up to an airport, go to the Qantas/Virgin/whatever desk and ask to be put on, say, the next SYD - ADL flight which has a spare seat? If so, is it possible to get a discounted fare by doing so (the logic being that the seat wouldn't be filled anyway, and therefore they will charge you less to fly as it's almost like extra revenue for the carrier), or have all airlines got some kind of policy which prevents people from doing this?

I'm just curious about this. I'm flying to Adelaide in the next few days but haven't booked (and I'm in no rush), and was just wondering whether this was an option I could take as opposed to paying full-price on a flight there and back.

Cheers!

Travel

Comments

  • retiredfeline on 02/06/2014 - 17:53
    +3

    I think those days of standby seats are truly past, but I did do a search:

    http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1141182

    I think this is a situation that airlines' yield management tries to avoid. If anything the service desk at the airport will take advantage of your situation and make you pay whatever the going fare is on the website, knowing that you have already inconvenienced yourself going to and hanging around the airport, at not insignificant expense.

    • iseenya on 02/06/2014 - 18:10

      Damn - I was wondering the same thing as OP, for a cheap trip East (and I live <5km from Perth airport, so it would be convenient too).

    • asdfghjkl123 on 02/06/2014 - 19:03

      Cheers greenpossum; the only reason I didn't try and Google this myself was that I didn't know that "standby" was the phrase for what I was referring to. Thanks!

      I thought that might be the case (I assumed it would be the "if one person does this, everyone will" mentality). It would be great if it was possible, however.

    • RockyRaccoon on 03/06/2014 - 07:44

      Nice link, I am sure this would help others understand part of the process.

    • Marble250 on 03/06/2014 - 11:47

      Great article!…

      Along the same lines, a couple of years back, I needed a "connector", offered by Tiger Air. I found the necessary flight on their site and was just about to book when I lost the internet link….five minutes later when I came into their site again the same flight/seat was increased by $55 (15%)

      I rang Tiger to complain and bumbler on the other said the usual…fast selling flight…. booking out of cheap seats… etc, ect!!.

      So to quench my curiosity, I entered the site from another computer….and low and behold! there was the cheaper flight again!!!!

      So I reckon once they identify you (through cookies) as "being interested", in a particular flight….they then try to increase the fare to grab a few more bucks.

      To prove the point, I returned to the original computer and the flight was still the at the higher fare.

      So at great inconvenience, I got rid of all my cookies, scrubbed my temporary internet files and browsing history and came into the site from another link….the cheap fare was once again available!

      I booked it!….the money's better in my pocket than theirs!

      • retiredfeline on 03/06/2014 - 12:00

        Tip: Next time open an incognito window to shop, and close and reopen it if it looks like cookies are tracking your visit.

        • Marble250 on 03/06/2014 - 12:44
          +1

          Thanks for the tip, but that was was a while ago….these days I have "non-tracking" software set up on my puters and I shop in a bubble.

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