Comments on: Flybe inter-island bid rejected

By: Eric

Eric — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:04:08 +0000

All very well;

However if it is true that if you book early you get a seat at current price;
Yet book later you pay more;
can that be fair? after all if there are (just for illustrating) 60 seats and 10 are hot booked, why the extra charge?

60 seats it’s not like a boat there’s a limited number of seats, and should therefore be same price.

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By: Toby

Toby — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:39:27 +0000

The real problem here is exactly what is an empty seat?

If Flybe got their way they could sell all their “empty” seats between Guernsey and Jersey.

So if I then come along and want to book a seat from Exeter to Jersey what will I do ?

If Flybe think it is fair to flood Guernsey to Jersey with 20,000 cheap seats then I’m sure they wouldn’t object to a similar approach on all their monopolised routes …….

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By: Big D

Big D — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:19:48 +0000

A few seats being sold on a total of 4 flights per day at most is hardly going to hit Blue Islands or Aurigny. People are always knocking Flybe for being SO much more expensive than Aurigny, so woe betide the thought that Aurigny drops the price of it’s ridiculously overprice inter-island tickets due to competition. Maybe they’d actually increase flights between the islands at weekends when people want to travel socially as opposed to relying on 7 flights on a Saturday and only 5 on a Sunday?!

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By: Captain Oveur

Captain Oveur — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:39:22 +0000

Yes I appreciate and understand they are not trying to become an “inter island” service. However what we have is an aircraft already going to Jersey or vice versa and therefore the free seats could be sold very cheaply as the route is already profitable as it stands.

Any extra seat sales would be profit for Flybe and therefore they could effectively sell them for any price, for example, £5 less than Blue Islands/Aurigny. This would result in Aurigny having to either a) reduce their seat price or b) sell fewer tickets, both examples could result in the route becoming unsustainable. At this point they would either reduce the number of flights per day or ask for a greater subsidy from the States (and therefore the taxpayer).

I think this is probably the right move, although I must admit I have no facts or figures to back this up, it’s more of an opinion based on my experience and I of course stand to be corrected.

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By: Paul Le Page

Paul Le Page — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:28:53 +0000

Captain Oveur – you’re quite right that airline have been known to do that, however according to the article, all Flybe are trying to do is fill otherwise empty seats on an already existing triangular route, not start up the route themselves.

I really don’t see the problem with them being granted a licence to do that – it’s hardly a great threat to Aurigny or Blue Islands who still hold the licence for a dedicate route. If there was a concern, a stipulation could simply be added that they are only permitted to sell tickets on that basis.

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By: Captain Oveur

Captain Oveur — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:35:10 +0000

Al, unfortunately it’s not quite that simple, if only it were. For example, if it were to be opened up as a “free for all”, then Flybe may undercut Aurigny and Blue Islands to gain market share, they could do this by basically subsidising the flights and operate at a loss. As they are a big airline they have plenty of cash in the bank to do this. Blue Islands or Aurigny would see a drop in sales and therefore revenue and “may” pull out of the route all together, this would hand the route to one player, ie Flybe who can then do whatever they want with the prices, and no doubt they would look to claw back whatever losses they had made to get the route theirs.

Ryanair will often use similar practices like the above, they effectively kill off competition by running routes with unrealistically low prices, then once the competition is snuffed out they allow prices to creep back up. Now I am not suggesting that Flybe operate in this fashion, I don’t believe they are as unethical as Ryanair, but that’s why we must protect some of the routes in this way.

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By: Al

Al — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:41:35 +0000

Surely the point is the more competition the the better. If you don’t like the price/service being offered then fly with someone else, but don’t restrict the choice we have. Whichever airline gives us the best/cheapest service will win customers so lets keep the field level and not prop up any one airline.

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By: Captain Oveur

Captain Oveur — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:11:10 +0000

And Mr Rutter might like to amend his wording as technically Aurigny do not run a “Monopoly” to Jersey as Blue Islands also operate on this route.

The current timetable is 10 flights a day for Aurigny and 12 for Blue Islands. Hardly a “Monopoly” which by definition is when a single company owns all or nearly all of the market.

Toys, pram, out – springs to mind.

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By: Captain Oveur

Captain Oveur — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:05:25 +0000

I’m quite surprised that people still don’t understand how seat prices are allocated. The earlier you book the cheaper they are. If you are paying £200 for a flight to Birmingham it means that quite a few people have booked that same flight before you.

This system of allocating batches of seats with increasing fares is used by many many airlines around the world.

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By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:44:16 +0000

Well Flybe’s comment was very predictable. I’m surprised they didn’t “have a go” at Blue Islands as well.

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By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:34:54 +0000

I’m not sure they could even match the £25 one way flights at the moment with Blue Islands and Aurigny. I tried to book for the UK on 18 December and return flights to Birmingham are over £400 for 2 adults with FlyBe while to East Midlands with Aurigny its £220. A no brainer in my view!

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By: Theo

Theo — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:48:02 +0000

Aurigny must be protected at all costs.
Without them, the Guernsey traveller will suffer sky high airfares and excessive baggage and check in charges which would come as sure as night follows day.
Aurigny belongs to the people of Guernsey. It’s our airline, so use it every time you have the choice.

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