Qatar Airways Pricing Policies
It seems a long time since anyone added a post about Qatar Airways prices and the anomalies that lie within them.
I recently did some work regarding comparative prices with other airlines and made some startling discoveries, one example being a comparison of Qatar Airways London to Johannesburg via Doha price of $966 with their Doha to Johannesburg of $1351! As both of these are return flights on the 5* priced airline it is clear that with a bit of forethought it may be possible to save some money! There is insufficient space here to go into details but these can be found on my website on this link:
http://www.marquemywords.co.uk/stories/general-articles/qatar-airways.html
i don't live in the UAE,i live here in QATAR & this is QATAR living...so yes,i intend to! :)...
For one of the 'top' airlines globally, QA indeed have some dubious marketing and pricing tactics! They are one of the only airlines I'm aware of, that advertise prices without tax! Progressing with a booking, you are then subject to some of the highest airline taxes in the world! The last time I flew QA I booked through BMI who sell seats on QA flights....for less?! Saved 500QR on my Doha to London flight, on a QA plane....not a massive difference, but enough!
That is why they are able to offer very low fares for transit passengers and capture those markets ;-)
The first time I benefitted from this type of discounted through fare was on Iceland Air from the UK to the USA. They also allowed a stopover in Iceland...fantastic deal!
It is done around the world, my point is that Qatar Airways are taking it to extremes.
It could be adopted for any carrier that feels they can get the chunk of their load through transit passengers. But I think the ones that come up first are the ones that offer least transit times and low competitive fares :-)
Is this the policy of Middle East carriers only or is this policy followed by major airlines in Europe as well.
Most of the mid east carriers depend of transit passengers as chunk of the load, so if they don't offer competitive prices, they won't get loads. These loads do not necessarily bring up the revenues for the sector and therefore you have to make room for local joining loads to generate that.
Like Gadarene said, most travelling public here do not pay for their tkts, it's their sponsor that takes care of it. And that is why QR probably is taking advantage of that.
However, I have flown EK and QR and I can say from my point of view that the J class service in QR is way better than EK. EK has gotten way too complacent when it comes to service now, their excuse is always - we consider your safety to be of utmost importance.
for a person living in UAE, its way cheaper for him to travel by QA than Emirates. Keep ranting.
and you think EK or GF or EY don't follow the same principles?
QR is a rip-off period...WAY too many people in this country don't pay for their tickets themselves or have way too much money to bother about fares or competitive pricing,couple this with the fact that QR is a state-funded airline(the state in this case being amongst the richest on the planet) & you're never going to get a competitive,reasonable fare on QR...
Yes,you will get a direct flight but you know what,i for one,have no issue with a couple of hours in transit,if it means i save at least a few hundred bucks per trip & service on QR usually sucks,seeing as what miserable lives most QR crew lead,that's not really surprising...
So really, rather than bother with their pricing,fly Emirates,shop/eat/have a drink @ Dubai airport,have a nice flight with good service AND pay less for it,what's not to like?! :)...
It depends on the degree of pricing differential but Qatar Airways Africa prices are really extreme.
I agree, Arien. The others seem to think the prices just reflect inconvenience, they do not, they are simply a way for Qatar Airways to discount whilst keeping their Doha in/out prices as high as possible. They are earning super-profits out of us.
it is the same with all the airlines isnt it?
I agree Arien, the others think the pricing policy is for the inconvenience, this is lot true; the real reason is to allow them to discount without reducing hub to/from prices. The surcharge thing is also unreal!
In Doha hub they are the most expensive.. rest of the 100 network points they are the cheapest and screws the market for others.
Transit flights will have to come down to capture the market , they have no choice, but ts not mandatory. But the way Qatar airways undercut in their network markets is just ridiculous
How about LHR to JNB direct? I'm sure that will be more than $966.
Like Isale said, transit flight in most parts of the world are cheaper because of the inconvenience to passengers and the time taken to reach your destination.
However this is not the case when you travel on flights within the US. The longer the route there, the more you pay :-(
transit flights are always cheaper than direct flights.