Article: Airlines, Please Stop Selling Ridiculously Tight Connections

[frodo]

I/we don't need this stress. We need time to relax.

Noone is forcing you to book these tight connections - you can simply pretend they don't exist and look for something more suitable for your needs.

I prefer to have these connections available to be booked if I feel like it's suitable and if missing the connection does not cause many issues.

 

[Sprucegoose]

I enjoy tight connections, as they can open more attractive options and enhance bargaining positions when things don't work.

 

[JohnK]

Noone is forcing you to book these tight connections - you can simply pretend they don't exist and look for something more suitable for your needs.

I prefer to have these connections available to be booked if I feel like it's suitable and if missing the connection does not cause many issues.

That'd be OK but that's not always the case. And yes we always have the choice but that choice could come at a hefty cost which defeats the purpose.

e.g. Booking on Webjet and select outbound legs and the return from BKK-SIN-BNE only has one option which is 9:30pm BKK-SIN followed by 12:30am SIN-BNE. There are another 4-5 earlier flights ex-BKK that are not offered. Yes can try find these flights on SQ website or another OTA at a hefty increase in cost.

Why try to flog the 9:30pm BKK-SIN? Because no one wants it? I prefer the 6:30pm or 3:30pm BKK-SIN so I can have a few hours to relax in lounge and have something to eat.

In the end I waited and waited and changed plans ever so slightly and we're now going ex-SYD for ~$700 less than ex-BNE with ~9 hours overnight transit on outbound and ~3 hours transit on inbound.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

That'd be OK but that's not always the case. And yes we always have the choice but that choice could come at a hefty cost which defeats the purpose.

e.g. Booking on Webjet and select outbound legs and the return from BKK-SIN-BNE only has one option which is 9:30pm BKK-SIN followed by 12:30am SIN-BNE. There are another 4-5 earlier flights ex-BKK that are not offered. Yes can try find these flights on SQ website or another OTA at a hefty increase in cost.

Why try to flog the 9:30pm BKK-SIN? Because no one wants it? I prefer the 6:30pm or 3:30pm BKK-SIN so I can have a few hours to relax in lounge and have something to eat.

In the end I waited and waited and changed plans ever so slightly and we're now going ex-SYD for ~$700 less than ex-BNE with ~9 hours overnight transit on outbound and ~3 hours transit on inbound.

The bigger question is why pay webjet’s extraordinary high fees?

I think you’re right, the later 930pm flight in your example is cheaper because SQ wants to feed traffic onto selected flights for the cheaper price. This might be because demand is limited for the 930pm, but it might also be that they can keep seats for the earlier flights to sell for higher prices, or to connect to other destinations. Or, by filling the cheaper seats on the 930pm with connecting traffic, they can charge a premium for the seats left for those just wanting to go to SIN.

 

[JohnK]

The bigger question is why pay webjet’s extraordinary high fees?

2 reasons

- Webjet was actually cheaper on this routing (they may have had a sale at the time but the other reason could also be that we arrive into SIN at 12:30am and depart for BKK at 9:30am and most hate those sorts of transits where as we love them if it means we save money)
- I love using Afterpay (pay in 4 instalments by end of March when I booked flights in January)