Air Berlin is getting more expensive ?

[Madshus]

I have been looking for a oneway ticket from Europe to Miami because I am on the april 2013 Independence of the Seas transatlantic. I am checking this quite frequently and 2.april the price was about 250 GBP for a oneway ticket Berlin - Miami in february 2013, and only slightly more expensive if I added the Oslo - Berlin flight. The flights in the end of march 2013 was not open yet which is what I am looking for. If they still would offer the same nice price in march 2013 I would have booked it as soon as possible.

 

Checking now it is very different: Berlin - Miami in february 2013 is 449 GBP. If you also want a return ticket Miami - Berlin in february 2013 it is only slightly more expensive: 478 GBP, which is actually a very good deal. March 2013 is still not open for bookings.

 

To me, it seems that Air Berlin has changed their policy, and do not offer oneway tickets anymore like the other lowprice airlines in Europe. Is this a consequence of Air Berlin joining the oneworld alliance :)

 

I will look for the march 2013 flights, but if Air Berlin really has changed their policy about oneway flights, which I suspect, I will be looking for other possibilities. Doing a transatlantic in the autumn of 2013 is not an option: I still have to go to work.

 

Aer Lingus and Icelandair still offer oneway tickets, but they are more expensive than Air Berlin, and they fly into Orlando, not Miami.

[CruiserBruce]

There are a variety of reasons prices are raising. First, gas prices. Second, your dates are moving into peak seasons. Lastly, the airline is noting your interest- possibly via cookies, and raising prices as you seem a sure bet, and will eventually buy.

 

Or you originally saw a sale, or caught the price during a sale or other low price period.

[Gardyloo]

Airberlin's prices have been trending upward since they joined Oneworld last month; however in my opinion you are WAY premature in trying to pin down a price that far out. Airlines rarely post their lowest prices right when the schedule opens (330 or 360 days out depending on the airline.) I would personally wait until a few months prior to the flight rather than eleven months.

 

Pricing models are VERY different between airlines and cruise lines. In many cases it behooves you to buy really early for cruises, but it's seldom the case with airlines. The idea that one should book 330 days out seems to have come from people confusing mileage award windows with cash pricing - very different things.

 

I seldom purchase airfare (and I travel 100,000 miles + annually) more than 3 months out, which would drive most cruise passengers nuts. But I've found that's usually the best combination of risk/reward for me. YMMV as we say.

[6rugrats]

I have been looking for a oneway ticket from Europe to Miami because I am on the april 2013 Independence of the Seas transatlantic.

You can't even look for prices for this cruise, which leaves on 07 April 2013. Schedules have only been released through ~March 4, 2013.

 

And, it makes no difference as to what prices you are finding for other dates; you can't compare them to April dates. Air Berlin has not changed their policy.

 

On each flight, tickets are placed in many different fare classes. The least expensive fare classes will sell out first, leaving you with only the more expensive ones from which to choose. Perhaps the "increase" in price you see for Feb. 2013 is a result of the lower priced tickets being sold out.

 

Tickets for your dates won't even be available for over a month yet. Wait and look then to see what they are like.

[Madshus]

Tickets for your dates won't even be available for over a month yet. Wait and look then to see what they are like.

I am living in Norway and Florida is quite exotic to me, so I planned to go there at least a week before Independence is leaving Florida. And that is during march and during easter. I do not believe the airfare prices will go down the closer I get to departure - quite opposite.

 

I am not sure I can believe every respond here - it may cost me a lot of money to wait until december to book tickets. After all there are other possibillities when it comes to oneway fares. If I also was going to have a return ticket, or did not have to cross the atlantic it may be right, and I would not think about buying tickets yet.

 

My point about Air Berlin is that it seems they are no longer a "oneway ticket" - operator (like Ryanair or easyjet in Europe) when it comes to transatlantic routes. And I guess the reason is the alliance OneWorld. Perhaps it is not acceptable for British Airways that Air Berlin sell tickets across the Atlantic for 250 GBP when BA offer oneway tickets for 4 times that price ?

[grandma*knows*best]

My point about Air Berlin is that it seems they are no longer a "oneway ticket" - operator (like Ryanair or easyjet in Europe) when it comes to transatlantic routes. And I guess the reason is the alliance OneWorld. Perhaps it is not acceptable for British Airways that Air Berlin sell tickets across the Atlantic for 250 GBP when BA offer oneway tickets for 4 times that price ?

 

I don't understand what you are asking. Air Berlin does sell one way tickets. If you mean that it is no longer selling "cheap" tickets you have already been advised to wait until your dates open up to see if the prices are a bit less.

 

You are right that tickets for next February are £434.70 for a one way trip from Berlin to Miami.

[6rugrats]

I am living in Norway and Florida is quite exotic to me, so I planned to go there at least a week before Independence is leaving Florida. And that is during march and during easter. I do not believe the airfare prices will go down the closer I get to departure - quite opposite.

I never said the price would go down the closer you get to departure. I merely said that Air Berlin's schedule is not open for your dates yet. You are unable to check prices yet. You'll have to wait until the schedule opens.

 

I am not sure I can believe every respond here - it may cost me a lot of money to wait until december to book tickets

 

One poster stated they usually waited ~ three months out to book airfare. This would not work for me. I agree that if you want to travel during the Easter Break (Easter is 31 March in 2013) I think you need to book early. BUT, you can't book this yet.

 

If I also was going to have a return ticket, or did not have to cross the atlantic it may be right, and I would not think about buying tickets yet.

You can think all you want to, but you will not be able to purchase a ticket when it's not yet on sale. Air Berlin is not currently selling tickets for travel dates later than Feb. 2013.

 

My point about Air Berlin is that it seems they are no longer a "oneway ticket" - operator (like Ryanair or easyjet in Europe) when it comes to transatlantic routes.

 

This point is not correct. Air Berlin still sells one way tickets.

 

Perhaps it is not acceptable for British Airways that Air Berlin sell tickets across the Atlantic for 250 GBP when BA offer oneway tickets for 4 times that price ?

I don't know where this assumption comes from, but doubt it is true.

[Gardyloo]

On each flight, tickets are placed in many different fare classes. The least expensive fare classes will sell out first, leaving you with only the more expensive ones from which to choose. Perhaps the "increase" in price you see for Feb. 2013 is a result of the lower priced tickets being sold out.

 

Actually, if one looks at fare bucket pricing and availability on AB for October 2012, and then early March 2013, the base fares are identical. The cheapest fare bucket in both months are "N" fares, with a price right at USD 412 one way BER-MIA.

 

However AB lists NO seats for sale at the "N" fare for March, only seats in more expensive buckets. By comparison, there are numerous N seats available for most flights in October and November.

 

This does not mean that the N seats have already sold out on flights just opened for booking yesterday. It means that AB's yield management computers have not listed any for sale yet. In their little electronic brains they're hoping that people will buy the more expensive seats right now and give AB their money to float for 11 months. When those sales start to slacken then they'll open up the cheaper buckets. Early birds get worms, later birds get hamburgers.

 

(Oh, and the difference between the base fare and the actual amounts paid are mainly fuel surcharges which are added after the base fare - AB also levies those egregious charges. There are also some airport and departure taxes depending on origin points, but those aren't much compared to the fuel fines - shown as "YQ" on the "taxes and fees" pages on booking documents.)

 

I am living in Norway and Florida is quite exotic to me, so I planned to go there at least a week before Independence is leaving Florida. And that is during march and during easter. I do not believe the airfare prices will go down the closer I get to departure - quite opposite.

 

I am not sure I can believe every respond here - it may cost me a lot of money to wait until december to book tickets. After all there are other possibillities when it comes to oneway fares. If I also was going to have a return ticket, or did not have to cross the atlantic it may be right, and I would not think about buying tickets yet.

 

Believe what you want. How much would they need to go up or come down before you decided that this was a good time to buy?

 

More important than Easter in dealing with South Florida in March/April is Spring Break - thousands and thousands of people coming from the snow belt for a week in the sun.

 

My point about Air Berlin is that it seems they are no longer a "oneway ticket" - operator (like Ryanair or easyjet in Europe) when it comes to transatlantic routes. And I guess the reason is the alliance OneWorld. Perhaps it is not acceptable for British Airways that Air Berlin sell tickets across the Atlantic for 250 GBP when BA offer oneway tickets for 4 times that price ?

AB decided to scrap the LCC business model for longhaul flights. (Then it bought Niki and kept the LCC model flying.)

 

Unfortunately (or is it?) Ryanair and easyJet don't fly across the pond, so you're stuck with airlines that don't play LCC games.

 

But check Aer Lingus through Dublin, or Icelandair, both of whom tend to price one-way fares competitively with AB.

[vjmatty]

You can't even look for prices for this cruise, which leaves on 07 April 2013. Schedules have only been released through ~March 4, 2013.

 

Tickets for your dates won't even be available for over a month yet. Wait and look then to see what they are like.

 

Some European non-legacy carriers don't follow the 330 day rule (in fact UA/CO is actually 337 days, but I digress). I seem to remember a couple of airlines last year, either Air Berlin, Iceland air or Finnair maybe, posting earlier than 330 days out when I was looking for a return flight for May this year. It may well have been Air Berlin.

[vjmatty]

Correction.... looks like it must have been Iceland Air, they have bookings as far out as April 1st 2013.

[Madshus]

When I first posted on this thread it was possible to book IcelandAir across the Atlantic. I guess they sell tickets no more than 355-360 days before travelling. AirBerlin published their march 2013 flights april 18 which is at the most 347 days before travelling.

 

When it comes to the pricing of Air Berlin tickets in march 2013 the cheapest one way fare Berlin (or Dusseldorf) to Miami is 684 USD. If you also want the return it is 707 USD. I asked earlier in this thread if AirBerlin had stopped selling oneway tickets, but what I meant to ask was if AirBerlin has stopped selling reasonably priced oneway tickets. And to me it seems that they have stopped selling these affordable tickets to Miami when the price for flying one leg is about the same as two legs. Looking at other airlines like British Airways or other flagcarriers the oneway ticket will cost about twice as much as their return ticket.

 

But when it comes to travelling Dusseldorf - Ft. Myers they still sell affordable oneway tickets and the cheapest I have found is 363 USD. If you also want the return it is 717 USD.

 

British Airways and American Airlines also fly into Miami from Europe, but not into Ft. Myers from Europe. So that gave me the idea that Air Berlin has changed the pricing policy after they have joined the same alliance as BA and AA. It is just an assumption ! Air Berlin has not done the same for flying Germany - New York or Los Angeles, so it may be wrong.

 

Anyway: I got tired of watching transatlantic flights and booked and payed one of the Dusseldorf - Ft.Myers flights in march 2013 for a very reasonably price in my opinion. Although we would have preferred landing in Orlando or Miami, the combination of a morning flight from Europe and a low price made this alternative unbeatable for us. Some will say it is much too soon to book, but as we are travelling during easter I figured out I do not dare to wait. We also considered IcelandAir and AerLingus, but flight times was afternoonflight or price higher.