here's an idea out of left field, to help fill seats

[UP4014]

I'm specifically interested in skiing & in Colorado, which is cheaper than ever. You need 11,800 velocity ff points to fly LAX/DEN direct or via SLC I think.

Mate, if you are interested in skiing in Colorado then saving a couple of hundred bucks on your airfare is meaningless between say Sydney and Denver or Salt Lake.

Many people would spend that difference at the Breckenridge Distillery to keep the cold out.

 

[Happy Dude]

So despite the relatively poor FX rates, and the coalface anecdotal evidence, the US is actually cheap but only if you don't book online and only want to ski, and VA have slashed peak-period airfares to near all-time lows in response to.....what exactly? Lack of pax heading there?

Not sure what this thread is about, I went cross-eyed there for a while.

 

[burmans]

yes you seem to get it, but some others don't. Hotels often work out cheaper per night, the longer you stay, even online. You can even buy basic holiday packages online, which are usually just airfare & hotel, but anything more & it gets too complicated for computers.

Well I must admit I must be reading the wrong threads as I haven't seen this multiple posting. Can you give some examples of good accomodations at cheap,prices for skiing.

 

[mrmerc500]

When I was in the US last September passing through Dallas and LA, I went clothing shopping and could only find a couple of pairs of shorts that were worth purchasing (pricewise).

A huge difference to a few years before when I bought an additional suitcase and filled both with bargains and saved hundreds over Aussie prices..

Agree with your thoughts, we had a similar experience having visiting US last Easter for the first time. The Hype of clothes, food being cheap from friends in the US didn’t seem to be our perception. With our retail choices in Australia, we certainly have a good offering with quality & pricing. Unfortunately this may of had an impact on good national men’s brands clothing across the last few years.

 

[ozfflyer]

Well I must admit I must be reading the wrong threads as I haven't seen this multiple posting. Can you give some examples of good accomodations at cheap,prices for skiing.

yes sure. $37 u.s. for day lift ticket for an adult with 4 kids totally free per paying adult, when ticket window price at resort will probably be $170 u.s. per day per adult & around $125 u.s. per child per day. The day ticket prices don't get set until closer to season start in a months time, but they added 5% from last season.

So I guess, if you did have 4 kids & did pay ticket window price(but who does that?), that would be $670 u.s. whereas the deal is $37 u.s. which would be more than 94% off but that's like comparing ticket window prices at ZVail resorts(again who pays that ever) to their Epic pas.

On snow accommodation - small 3 star condo that can sleep 6, with 4 beds very close to lifts from $166 u.s. a night for most night in January & February.

Email recd about 2 weeks ago, said $49 au & $215 au which is about 10% off the above prices. They also were giving every adult a free pair of ski gloves worth $150 when minimum spend reached, but don't have that figure in front of me today.

Phoned & eventually got through & they told me the condo mentioned was small by U.S. standards, but bigger than most in Australian ski resorts, which didn't really say much, but if you ski all day & don't spend lot of time in your condo, probably would do.

If you want to know more, PM me as asked a lot of questions about this deal.

 

[Happy Dude]

Well I must admit I must be reading the wrong threads as I haven't seen this multiple posting. Can you give some examples of good accomodations at cheap,prices for skiing.

yes sure. $37 u.s. for day lift ticket for an adult with 4 kids totally free per paying adult, when ticket window price at resort will probably be $170 u.s. per day per adult & around $125 u.s. per child per day. The day ticket prices don't get set until closer to season start in a months time, but they added 5% from last season.

So I guess, if you did have 4 kids & did pay ticket window price(but who does that?), that would be $670 u.s. whereas the deal is $37 u.s. which would be more than 94% off but that's like comparing ticket window prices at ZVail resorts(again who pays that ever) to their Epic pas.

On snow accommodation - small 3 star condo that can sleep 6, with 4 beds very close to lifts from $166 u.s. a night for most night in January & February.

Email recd about 2 weeks ago, said $49 au & $215 au which is about 10% off the above prices. They also were giving every adult a free pair of ski gloves worth $150 when minimum spend reached, but don't have that figure in front of me today.

Phoned & eventually got through & they told me the condo mentioned was small by U.S. standards, but bigger than most in Australian ski resorts, which didn't really say much, but if you ski all day & don't spend lot of time in your condo, probably would do.

If you want to know more, PM me as asked a lot of questions about this deal.

@ozafflyer This reminds me of a guy I used to know who constantly bragged about catching lots of oversized fish. He never seemed to take a picture, and he refused to tell anyone where he'd been or invite anyone to fish with him.

What's the worst that could happen? A bunch of Aussies jump on this "insane" deal, much to the dismay of the skifields/resorts and your travel agent who are then overrun with.......eeek......customers?? I bet they're glad you've got their backs.

 

[ozfflyer]

@ozafflyer This reminds me of a guy I used to know who constantly bragged about catching lots of oversized fish. He never seemed to take a picture, and he refused to tell anyone where he'd been or invite anyone to fish with him.

What's the worst that could happen? A bunch of Aussies jump on this "insane" deal, much to the dismay of the skifields/resorts and your travel agent who are then overrun with.......eeek......customers?? I bet they're glad you've got their backs.

WTF ?

Phone any decent travel agent or snow wholesaler on Monday & should be able to find this deal. Don't think this deal ever runs out, I mean lift tickets don't.

Last time I mentioned who deal was with, was accused of promoting/advertising it.

 

[sjk]

Phone any decent travel agent or snow wholesaler on Monday & should be able to find this deal. Don't think this deal ever runs out, I mean lift tickets don't.

It would be so easy for you to make your ‘information’ useful, and yet it remains stubbornly useless.

 

[ozfflyer]

back on topic. So many airlines have trouble filling many routes, at reasonable yields.

Most retailers of electrical goods have for many years, flogged TVs etc. with interest free deals.

Flight Centre pushes a certain credit card, where you can take as long as you want to pay off airfares/holidays but at some point the interest rate must go up to 20 something %.

If an airlines said book now, pay now, but only pay a certain % per month, with final payment just before departure, or they tie in with a credit card, so payments can be over a longer period, ie. after th pax returns from flights/holiday surely this would be popular with pax who don't have the funds just sitting around or can't pay a big credit card bill in one single month.

 

[dajop]

back on topic. So many airlines have trouble filling many routes, at reasonable yields.

You are like a broken record, and keep on saying that but won't provide evidence. In other thread you looked at post Xmas fares, and indicated cheap fares in the shoulder period, yet won't reveal who the cheap fares are on, when presented with the idea that VA and QF are quite expensive.

Basic rule of debating is you need facts to support your arguments, not just speculation, unless you are a President or Prime Minister

 

[Happy Dude]

WTF ?

Phone any decent travel agent or snow wholesaler on Monday & should be able to find this deal. Don't think this deal ever runs out, I mean lift tickets don't.

Last time I mentioned who deal was with, was accused of promoting/advertising it.

Oh for crying out loud....

So I can call any decent travel agent and just ask for the "kids ski free when adults pay $37 USD but normal price is $670 USD" deal? And I'll have those real cheap tix on that airline struggling to fill seats too, please?

Why do I think the agent would start looking for availability on, oh I don't know, Tarom Airlines to a fantastic ski field in Kentucky.

But I'm a good sport and I love a good mystery so I'll tell you what - I'll guess a ski resort somewhere in the US and you yell DISCO!! if I get it right. I have assumed that you are talking aboutthe US and not one of those loser countries that prefers to charge tourists in USD rather than their own country. If I don't get it right, you tell me if I'm getting warmer or colder than my previous guess. (Obviously you can't do that for my first guess!). OK, here goes:

Squaw Valley?

 

[ozfflyer]

Oh for crying out loud....

So I can call any decent travel agent and just ask for the "kids ski free when adults pay $37 USD but normal price is $670 USD" deal? And I'll have those real cheap tix on that airline struggling to fill seats too, please?

Why do I think the agent would start looking for availability on, oh I don't know, Tarom Airlines to a fantastic ski field in Kentucky.

But I'm a good sport and I love a good mystery so I'll tell you what - I'll guess a ski resort somewhere in the US and you yell DISCO!! if I get it right. I have assumed that you are talking aboutthe US and not one of those loser countries that prefers to charge tourists in USD rather than their own country. If I don't get it right, you tell me if I'm getting warmer or colder than my previous guess. (Obviously you can't do that for my first guess!). OK, here goes:

Squaw Valley?

1. there is no normal price for anything these days. The $37 deal as mentioned is at Copper Mt Colorado, which is surrounded by vail resorts, but better than any vail resort.

Anyway, back on topic, the thomas cook collapse which has apparently left 600,000 people with no flights, might be good for those surviving airlines, although presume charter operators will be able to charge UK govt whatever they like, in a sellers market, at least for the short term.

BTW-all airlines are doing loss leader airfares in January. The only differences are the start date of the sub $1000 return airfare deals. Some start for departures around January 13, others later, but with more seats. Got an email today from air nz saying from January 19, $900 return, but cheaper to go through an agent starting around $820 I think it was.

 

[dajop]

$900 return, but cheaper to go through an agent starting around $820 I think it was.

I can see those fares on itamatrix, yes, $900 return + $241 = $1141 return on NZ (eg. MEL-LAX return).

 

[ozfflyer]

I can see those fares on itamatrix, yes, $900 return + $241 = $1141 return on NZ (eg. MEL-LAX return).

if you looked after midnight, the NZ deal had ended, but it will almost certainly be back in a few days.

A lot of their sales are 48 hours long.

Delta/Virgin/Fiji air still have deals like below



& this one for SYD/LAX Mon January 20 & back 2 weeks later


With EY fares of $799 return to London (students, teachers under 31) fares to LAX & SFO will come back to $800 type levels very very soon

 

[clipped_wings]

$1147 is all I can find for SYD-LAX on those dates. I think the disclaimer "FROM" that appears on all of them is spoiling your well-intentioned information.

 

[dajop]

$1147 is all I can find for SYD-LAX on those dates. I think the disclaimer "FROM" that appears on all of them is spoiling your well-intentioned information.

Actually some online TA's seem to offer that fare ($997). Cheap, but departing Australia, is definitely towards the end of the peak/shoulder period.

 

[ozfflyer]

$1147 is all I can find for SYD-LAX on those dates. I think the disclaimer "FROM" that appears on all of them is spoiling your well-intentioned information.

yes that $1000 fare might only have dozen or so seats at that price. Many of those sales have been runing for a while now. Many end Sept 30, but many cheap seats have probably been snapped up. Think we'll find come start of October or very shortly afterwards, that many more sub $1000 fares return to USA will appear, with departures maybe as early as January 9 or 11, as many flights have very poor loads out of Australia from those dates.

 

[QF WP]

Yes, the Mod team are watching this thread with more than a little interest - and all posters to make sure the messages are within the rules and the toys stay in the prams.

 

[ozfflyer]

yes let's get back on topic. The thomas cook collapse is probably going to push up fares slightly for the next few months. The 600,000 people mentioned are surely those booked in the next 12 months, not those already away from home. Many airlines will make good money out of this collapse, but the issue remains, how to fill those aircraft with very poor loads.

I was talking about flights out of OZ, from around January 9.

By drip feeding roughly a dozen cheap seats a week, airlines don't have to announce an actual sale, but could get rid of 120 seats per flight over a 10 week period.

 

[straitman]

By drip feeding roughly a dozen cheap seats a week, airlines don't have to announce an actual sale, but could get rid of 120 seats per flight over a 10 week period.

But is that how airline ticketing really works?

I think not!