Airfares: Why Are Australians Charged More?

mxyzptik on 13/03/2012 - 09:38
Last edited 13/03/2012 - 18:01

For example, when I want to fly it would cost me over $1,000 or 55% more to fly Melbourne-London return than London-Melbourne (28/6 - 20/7 with Emirates. $2,863.11 instead of $1,852.28).

Why?

This is not about those specific fares, or Emirates (whose $1,099 STA special was a great offer) but about the fact that it costs Australians more to fly (and just about buy anything it seems).

More importantly, what can we do to redress the balance?

Edit: Another quick look on expedia.uk and bestflights.com.au and the difference on this return with Emirates on those dates is now a STAGGERING 101%: $1,379.54 from UK compared with $2,767 from Melbourne.

Expletives deleted!

Travel

Comments

  • tonyjzx on 13/03/2012 - 09:51
    +1

    you need to get a contact overseas and buy tickets from their end

  • slow on 13/03/2012 - 10:06
    +1

    The same reason we are charged more for shoes, clothes, books, sporting equipement, electronics etc etc etc

  • [Deactivated] on 13/03/2012 - 10:08
    +3

    It's all about what companies can extract from you. If you do not play ball, they will lower their prices. But since Australians more or less put upt with any BS the companies throw at them, they will. It is as simple as that. The same can happen in Europe: Here is an example:

    Back home (in the UK) it is very similar. When you go on a trip travel agents try to sell you holiday health insurance (just like here). I have had quotes of between 25 and 40 pounds for a 14 day holiday in Turkey, Greece, Egypt - you name it. The protection is for those 14 days!

    However, in Germany you can get annual cover (each trip may last up to 56 days, so the 14 days are well covered) for 9 euros (about 6 pounds) from reputable companies such as Allianz, Axa etc. The reason being is that Germany is very competitive and if the price is right, the Germans won't buy. They do not put up with that BS. That also is the reason why the German cars have so many sfaety features and technology - if a car does not pass the European and German crash tests with at least 4 out of 5 stars, it is virtually unsellable there.

    A Chinese car company sold 7 cars in one year due to the fact that their car received zero stars. The 7 cars were probably dealers for showrooms.

    As regards tonyjzx's suggestion: that won't work. If you buy in the UK you have to depart from there. You cannot first use the return ticket. I have tried to use very trick in the book but no go.
    Sorry, either put up with the prices if you really want to go, try to organise a protest and write to your member of Parliament, or don't go and convince others to do the same and then prices will drop eventually as the airlines need to fill their planes with bums.

  • Evil-Elmo on 13/03/2012 - 10:29
    +1

    I've noticed the same problem with flights to NZ. The difference can be staggering. For a while it was better to book two one way tickets with Emirates, and I did this for a while. However, last time I looked this didn't work out better. In any event, we definitely get gouged.

  • sane on 13/03/2012 - 11:14
    +3

    Practically?

    Because Australia doesn't have a fair trade government agency with teeth. What should happen is immediately it was reported, the government agency would call in the airlines and intermediaries, show the difference in pricing for the same flights, and then tell them they had till the end of the week to fix it or get pulled into court and fined a substantial percentage of their turnover.

    But somehow, neither of the parties seem to be doing this. Almost as if they are either incompetent, or corrupt.

    • heroheroz on 13/03/2012 - 12:47
      +1

      corrupt is the best answer

  • razorack999 on 13/03/2012 - 11:24
    +1

    I agree it all gets down to charging what they can get away with. For example Etihad http://www.etihadairways.com/sites/Etihad/au/en/home/Pages/h…

    Try changing your country top left. Then access the breaking deals available from other countries. It is amazing the difference

  • itbargainhunter on 13/03/2012 - 16:35
    +1

    When booking return ticket, my suggestion is always try to look at the Airline's website and buy 2 x one way if possible.
    Also try to use those Airline who host their non-australia based website overseas.

    I am not giving out the Airline name here but I had experience booking a return ticket to HK during a peak season. For the exact same flights, it is total ~10% cheaper to book 2 x one way than book return from its Australia website.

    Interesting fact is that the "inbound" flight, since being booked in an overseas hosted website, not only didn't attract GST, it's pure air fare (excluding airport tax) is actually 1/3 cheaper than the the "outbound" flight. Also it had better luggage allowance.

    I ended up saved ~AUD $150 just by booking 2 x oneway.

  • mxyzptik on 13/03/2012 - 16:45
    +3

    Thanks for the comments and info above. Having rung the Dept of Foreign Affairs and Trade, for atarters, I am going to write a short letter to the Treasurer about the gouging of Australian consumers - the Government should be batting for us (not just themselves with their free travel, iPads etc etc etc etc). I'll write to Choice too and anyone else who might be able to help.

    OzBargain is a beacon of light in this area and hopefully further action can be taken.

  • ellave on 13/03/2012 - 17:21
    +1

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  • mxyzptik on 13/03/2012 - 18:03

    I've just added to the intro: "Another quick look on expedia.uk and bestflights.com.au and the difference on this return with Emirates on those dates is now a STAGGERING 101%: $1,379.54 from UK compared with $2,767 from Melbourne.

    Expletives deleted!"

    So it is cheaper to buy two return tickets in the UK than one here.

    The single fares are systematically loaded to avoid Australians booking single tickets from the UK. FIX!

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