The Great Flight Price Mystery...

I will never understand airfare pricing. There should be a relevant chapter on final year philosophy syllabi - great minds could wrestle with the illogic of it all, maybe one day culminating in a pivotal moment of understanding. I can see it now - hushed academics crowded into an ancient, tiered lecture room, all eyes trained on the brilliant PhD student taking the lecturn: "Gentleman, I have the answer..." - dead silence. "The answer to the meaning of the question of airfare pricing is: 'Bollocks'." Well at least it wasn't 42.

I rolled up at the Finnair website this evening, and went about purchasing the €138 each way tickets to Paris I'd seen over the weekend. I found them, selected some convenient times, reconsidered, and went back to change the time of my return flight. Was this discourteous? Did I somehow offend the cheap flights' sensibilities? Was I overly insensitive with a check box? Who knows. When the page finished loading the cheap options were gone for good, leaving me with €528 euros return as the cheapest option. Oh dear.

Now Finnair runs the flights in question. They are Finnair flights, on Finnair planes, with Finnair meals (they still serve meals and provide free drinks - kudos), served by Finnair hostesses, in Finnair uniforms - you get the picture - yet somehow, the exact tickets that cost €528 euros when purchased from Finnair, cost €325 when purchased from Air France, who buys them from Finnair.

I don't get it. However, I don't care - I've saved €203, which is the approximate price of 5 nights accomodation in the Gobelins district, left bank, baby.


Airline pricing schemes, I fart in your general direction.