Fares to AFL and NRL grand finals

[Spongbob]

The price of Y fares PER-MEL (and return) and BNE-SYD (and return) to attend either football code Grand Final is outrageous. For many flights it is cheaper to fly business than economy.

 

[SpudOz]

My youngest managed to get a ticket in the West Coast ballot for the Grand Final. I was staggered to see the return Y fares were over $2,000.00.

 

[Mal]

Fares seem more expensive for Christmas, Fares seem more expensive during School Holidays? Why? Well supply and demand comes into play. Why should football matches be any different? Do the airlines owe anyone anything?

Why aren't hotels mentioned, why aren't other events like F1 mentioned in the same breath?

 

[RooFlyer]

Fares seem more expensive for Christmas, Fares seem more expensive during School Holidays? Why? Well supply and demand comes into play. Why should football matches be any different? Do the airlines owe anyone anything?
<snip>

Possibly only to be treated 'fare-ly' and in accordance with Consumer type laws. Maybe no to the first and likely yes to the second.

<snip>

Why aren't hotels mentioned, why aren't other events like F1 mentioned in the same breath?

Probably because this is a thread about the AFL grand final flights. But the thread is but young; and now that you mention it ....

 

[Revolio]

V-line prices for trains and buses into MEL & SYD for the GF's (from southern NSW) are unchanged. Some Australian values still linger. The greed of globalised society is governed by opportunity. The <redacted> is no different from vendors selling 1.25 litre bottles of water for $8 during the bushfires. Not the Aussie way of doing things. My tv will suffice this weekend. Go Eagles; go Cowboys.

 

[Hvr]

And what about the Virgin CEO? His fares aren't cheap either.

As with anything the business has to fully exploit their business opportunities to make a profit.

The Grand Finals are sold out events with many more people wanting to attend than can possibly fit in the respective stadia. Therefore prices of tickets to the events and supporting functions reflect the scarcity and are priced accordingly.

There are alternatives to attendance and most people will use one of them such as watching them on television.

 

[under the radar]

V-line prices for trains and buses into MEL & SYD for the GF's (from southern NSW) are unchanged. Some Australian values still linger. The greed of globalised society is governed by opportunity. The <redacted> is no different from vendors selling 1.25 litre bottles of water for $8 during the bushfires. Not the Aussie way of doing things. My tv will suffice this weekend. Go Eagles; go Cowboys.

This 'unAustralian'...'Australian values'..'not the aussie way' is such a bunch of cr*p ...'mate' lol....has someone told you it's the 21st century, and we are part of a market (world) economy. And mentioning someones heritage just shows me what type of person you are. But of course AFF will frown upon MY post for attacking a poster. Yet people on here are given free reign to attack those who cant defend themselves on here!!
*end of rant*

 

[Revolio]

This 'unAustralian'...'Australian values'..'not the aussie way' is such a bunch of cr*p ...'mate' lol....has someone told you it's the 21st century, and we are part of a market (world) economy. And mentioning someones heritage just shows me what type of person you are. But of course AFF will frown upon MY post for attacking a poster. Yet people on here are given free reign to attack those who cant defend themselves on here!!
*end of rant*

AFL & NRL GF's are part of 'being Australian'. Don't feature anywhere else. Being part of a global market economy doesn't necessarily mean you have to adopt greed as a mantra. An Australian company will always function within the expectations of Australian culture and morality much better, if led by an Australian. There is nothing wrong with making a fair and honest profit; but to exploit West Coast & FNQ fans desire to simply want to follow their teams in this wide-spread land isn't reflective of the Aussie values that I was brought up to follow in the 50s/60s. Virgin, hotels and others are similarly guilty of the same 'scalping'. I don't feel guilty about following the theme of the OP and highlighting exactly where these 'types' (to conform to your language) are going wrong in this country. Greed is greed no matter how you dress it up. (and what better time than the 21st century under a new PM to start to recapture some Australian identity before it is absorbed into someone else's set of values)

 

[tomo69]

My youngest managed to get a ticket in the West Coast ballot for the Grand Final. I was staggered to see the return Y fares were over $2,000.00.

$2000 will buy a pretty decent television these days with change leftover for a ton of beer and rib fillet for the BBQ.

 

[Kangol]

It wasn't that long ago that the price of airfares was such that the average working class person could not afford it.
What was that saying from the former treasurer and the age of entitlement?
If you want to really look at things in perspective, look up how much a private jet for the same journey would cost.
Just saying.

 

[Mattg]

If (un)fares are still going for around $2,000 even after extra flights have been added, this would surely be an indication that more extra flights are needed?

 

[RichardMEL]

All this outrage in the media is, imho, ridiculous. People don't look at the big picture.

Consider in both cases 2 things.

1. It's school holiday time, and this coming weekend is the end of hols for some states so there was already demand on key routes (like PER-MEL) with bookings that had been there for months unrelated to the football. ie: availability on the limited services was already reduced because of this.

2. Because of the relatively short notice (for most) of who will be in these sporting events (eg: prior to last weekend it could have been zero WA teams - or 2 - in the AFL GF, or a Melbourne v Sydney team in the NRL GF) then you have the demand at relatively short notice (yes, VA and QF were planning for the likely, specially in AFL land, inclusion of a PER based team, or both, in MEL but there's only so much capacity you can find at short notice - I mean QF is already at the limit with it's 380 fleets let alone 330's/744, though they probably could have added some more 73H capacity, but then again the school holiday demand still sees the need to keep these planes on usual routes). Yield management will always ensure lower fare inventory would not be there close in to departure, and it was well sold out prior anyway(see point 1).

I took a look at EF last week before the prelim finals and it was basically down to a few seats in Y only (Y bucket) on just about every flight.

I'm not saying it's fair that the full Y fares are what they are, but that's the way the business works. I'm also not saying it's fair that people need to fork out such a high amount to cross the country for an event like this, but really it's simple economics in the end - demand far outstrips supply, even with an extra 330 and 747 service from QF and whatever VA is putting on, plus JQ and TT, and it is going to up the price. Remember the great banana shortage due to the cyclones and stuff in FNQ around 2010-2011(from memory) when prices went from like $1/kg to $10/kg+++? same thing really.

Sure, call for the airlines to cut the prices on those full Y fares for these events - good luck with that.. and even if they did, then anytime there's high demand things on all you'd need to do is say "hey, I don't want to pay $x for this, you need to lower it!" well that just won't work.

An dyes, the hotel rates are insane in Melbourne this weekend again due to the demand. that's how it goes.

 

[Mattg]

Sure, call for the airlines to cut the prices on those full Y fares for these events - good luck with that.. and even if they did, then anytime there's high demand things on all you'd need to do is say "hey, I don't want to pay $x for this, you need to lower it!" well that just won't work.

I agree in principle that there is no reason for airlines to lower their prices as a "gesture of goodwill" just because. If demand is that high, then prices can and should reflect this. But I would argue that the airlines aren't doing enough on the supply side if return flights from PER-MEL are $2,000. With such extreme demand, surely the airlines should be considering adding (yet) more flights. In fact, with fares at the levels they are, I'm surprised they haven't added more than they have.

 

[RichardMEL]

I agree in principle that there is no reason for airlines to lower their prices as a "gesture of goodwill" just because. If demand is that high, then prices can and should reflect this. But I would argue that the airlines aren't doing enough on the supply side if return flights from PER-MEL are $2,000. With such extreme demand, surely the airlines should be considering adding (yet) more flights. In fact, with fares at the levels they are, I'm surprised they haven't added more than they have.

And how do they "fund" these flights? with what equipment? neither VA or Qf have huge capacity just lying around to be used for this sort of thing. That's the problem. It's also not shorter sectors (I am surprised they can't throw more into BNE-SYD v.v. tbh)

After all, the airlines would gain by adding more services if they can make money from them... though the economics may dwindle when you consider mostly empty return sectors eg the PER-SYD 744)

 

[Red Roo]

Over the weekend, Qantas and Jetstar announced additional services (including a special B747 flight) to get fans from Perth, Townsville and Brisbane to Sydney and Melbourne for the AFL and NRL Grand Finals.

As suggested, high demand will always mean that the cheapest fares sell out quickly. However this year we’re talking about an already busy school holiday period, with both Grand Finals scheduled on the same weekend. It also happens to be a long weekend in Sydney, and for the first time in Melbourne.

Contrary to popular belief and media reports, Qantas and Jetstar don’t increase prices because of special events – Grand Finals or otherwise. As you may know, our system range allows seats to be booked nearly 12 months in advance. By way of example, I can share with you that approximately half of all Qantas customers flying between Melbourne and Perth have paid $275 or less each way.

Finally, and to state the obvious, the nature of the competition means we don’t get much notice about where the demand will come from. We have been keeping a close eye on results throughout the Finals series and had subsequently added services where necessary.

 

[turnip666]

.....and let's not forget that with these extra flights into SYD and MEL, they are not likely to return full if they are running a shuttle to TSV or PER. There is not the same demand to return until the next day.

However it un-Australian not to demand that economic laws of supply and demand be put on hold when personally affected.

 

[codash1099]

Over the weekend, Qantas and Jetstar announced additional services (including a special B747 flight) to get fans from Perth, Townsville and Brisbane to Sydney and Melbourne for the AFL and NRL Grand Finals.

As suggested, high demand will always mean that the cheapest fares sell out quickly. However this year we’re talking about an already busy school holiday period, with both Grand Finals scheduled on the same weekend. It also happens to be a long weekend in Sydney, and for the first time in Melbourne.

Contrary to popular belief and media reports, Qantas and Jetstar don’t increase prices because of special events – Grand Finals or otherwise. As you may know, our system range allows seats to be booked nearly 12 months in advance. By way of example, I can share with you that approximately half of all Qantas customers flying between Melbourne and Perth have paid $275 or less each way.

Finally, and to state the obvious, the nature of the competition means we don’t get much notice about where the demand will come from. We have been keeping a close eye on results throughout the Finals series and had subsequently added services where necessary.

Not to mention the fact that the extra demand is only in one direction on any one day. So when extra aircraft are provided, they will fly nearly empty going in one direction.

 

[dajop]

V-line prices for trains and buses into MEL & SYD for the GF's (from southern NSW) are unchanged. Some Australian values still linger. The greed of globalised society is governed by opportunity. The Irish leprechaun is no different from vendors selling 1.25 litre bottles of water for $8 during the bushfires. Not the Aussie way of doing things. My tv will suffice this weekend. Go Eagles; go Cowboys.

This is ridiculous comparison. I'll talk about V-line train services as they're the ones I know most about. Apart from the commuter type travel passes, there are just two fare levels - peak and off peak, with peak defined by weekday morning arrivals in Melb and late afternoon departures from Melb. Everything else is offpeak (and both fare types come with and without concessions for pensioners, students etc). This is a very crude way of managing demand, but that's it as far as variable pricing goes. By contrast, airlines have many different types of fares for each flight, and as the flight fills the fares, surprise surprise go up. And of course no-one can stand on planes, whereas when trains fill up people stand in the aisles and the ends of each carriage. Also the amount of carriages and locomotives (or power cars) that a train company has is determined basically by peak demand (weekday morning and evenings), so come weekends there is a lot of spare rolling stock lying around that can be used to boost capacity, simply add another service or even better hook up an extra few carriages, or extra set in the case of more modern trains, to existing services. You can't hook a 737 or 2 up to a 747 with still just one pilot operating both! Aircraft are expensive, and capacity is finely balanced, so that there aren't always a lot of spare aircraft lying around, and it costs a lot to get them to the places where they might be needed.

The real test of gouging by airlines is not whether fares are high or not, but whether fares in particular fare buckets (such as Y, H, K etc) are any more than normal fares in those fare buckets.

If you don't like this, I suggest moving to North Korea, one place where I suspect the market economy and laws of supply and demand do not operate (at an official level, although I bet they do in practice down on the street).

Eagles fans can still watch on TV, like the vast majority of Hawks supporters will be anyway.

 

[RichardMEL]

Not to mention the fact that the extra demand is only in one direction on any one day. So when extra aircraft are provided, they will fly nearly empty going in one direction.

and One Direction are a terrible band

 

[mannej]

In my mind this is no different to the premium that the AFL places on the ticket prices for the finals under their control. $80+ for a restricted view ticket at Subiaco is a rort.

IMHO it was rich of them to have a go at the airlines (it was in the media last week) considering the fact they have done the same.