Why is Heathrow so expensive to fly from?

shrek2

shrek2

shrek2

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I mean have a look at the two screens. An extra flight is cheaper than just direct from Heathrow on the same airline. I need to go from Heathrow as I want to see my family before I go and when I come back. I have noticed taxes are £20 more from Manchester than from Heathrow but the fare is much more expensive direct from Heathrow.

I find it bizarre to be honest.


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Do some digging around on skyscanner or netflights. We are due to arrive back in Heathrow from honeymoon during the Olympics. A saturday landing flight into LHR was £270. Wait a few hours to return and the flight was £90.
 
Because it's BA :p

Why not fly with Air New Zealand instead? Best carrier on that route, best economy class and biggest seat pitch. They'll do it from Heathrow for £140 less than BA want.

Actually if you are prepared to go on Thursday instead of the Friday there is a BA flight for £543. It's listed as being Iberia but it's not - its a Codeshare so its a BA flight there and back.

If you do Thurs to Mon and not Fri to Sat it's even less - £499 return with BA.
 
Yea, or use Skyscanner. Infact Skyscanner is probably best. Play around with the dates :)

I'd be tempted to wait for a bit and see if Virgin and BA have a flight sale - though to be honest any sub £500 flight to LA is probably about as good as it'll get direct.
 
buckeejit said:
Disagreed, skyscanner is bloody awful as from what I've experienced, prices are usually higher as it doesn't price live.
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I've used it a few times and found it to be pretty good although admittedly I'm not tracking the pricing of the flight changes minute by minute and I do usually try to book a few months in advance since I'm happy to take the trade-off of potentially paying a little bit more for the certainty that I've got the flights I need.

As for why it is more expensive to fly from Heathrow I'd presume that some of it is because it is a more desirable location to fly from for many and it may well also cost them more to operate from there.
 
semi-pro waster said:
As for why it is more expensive to fly from Heathrow I'd presume that some of it is because it is a more desirable location to fly from for many and it may well also cost them more to operate from there.
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BA dont fly to LAX from Manchester, he has to catch the same Heathrow flight he'd catch if he was flying to Heathrow. The only difference is the addition of a connecting flight from Manchester.
 
[TW]Fox;21494226 said:
BA dont fly to LAX from Manchester, he has to catch the same Heathrow flight he'd catch if he was flying to Heathrow. The only difference is the addition of a connecting flight from Manchester.
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That wouldn't explain why it becomes more expensive with fewer flights though which is why I suggested that it's likely to be either a location surcharge based on the desirability of flying from there or because the operating costs are higher at Heathrow than at Manchester. Then again it may just be some weird anomaly.
 
[TW]Fox;21494028 said:
I'd be tempted to wait for a bit and see if Virgin and BA have a flight sale - though to be honest any sub £500 flight to LA is probably about as good as it'll get direct.
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British Airways currently has a sale on until March 27th. Therefore the prices will go back up to normal after that date.

It is a quirk that a feeder flight (in this case Manchester to Heathrow) does bring the overall cost down, I presume it is done to stop customers flying to LA with another airline who may fly direct from Manchester. Quite often British Airways long haul flights from Heathrow drop in price if you fly in from a European airport first. I flew from Amsterdam to Heathrow to Sydney on BA last year and it was far cheaper than just flying Heathrow to Sydney on BA! Even when you add on the cost of getting to Amterdam first, I still saved quite a bit of money.
 
hanmer said:
Quite often British Airways long haul flights from Heathrow drop in price if you fly in from a European airport first. I flew from Amsterdam to Heathrow to Sydney on BA last year and it was far cheaper than just flying Heathrow to Sydney on BA! Even when you add on the cost of getting to Amterdam first, I still saved quite a bit of money.
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This is quite a common occurrence... some people get a round trip that originates in europe and returns to europe, but has a connection both ways at LHR (e.g., Europe -> LHR -> LAX, LAX -> LHR -> Europe) They'll go to the european airport to commence their journey, but on the return leg, will not join the final leg and terminate their travel at Heathrow thus forfeiting the final leg of their journey.

Even though they've traveled further, the cost of travel is often cheaper than just doing LHR -> LAX, LAX -> LHR. BA actually frown on people doing this and abandoning part of the booked itinerary, and according to some have stated they will bill repeat offenders the difference between what they paid and what the ticket would actually have cost starting at LHR. I doubt they'd actually get very fair with this as they can't exactly hold you captive on the final leg of the flight!

One of the incentives for doing this I believe is that on rewards flights in particular, the cost of the fees/taxes you still need to pay may be cheaper from mainland europe (referred to by some as "euro cheating").

This is one of those weird pricing anomalies which drives slightly odd behaviour given the cost of the flights is probably partially determined by marketing/demographic rather than directly correlating to the cost of providing the service.
 
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shrek2 said:
Just about to book with Air New Zealand. Or should I wait to see if they become cheaper?
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Problem with that ie waiting is that the prices may go up so its a bit of pot luck. Honestly if your getting a cheaper price with Air NZ then go with them. As Fox said before their service is good and the seat pitch is better than BA so its a win win.

I personally try not to fly BA anymore as i dont find them competitive with other airlines plus their service has gone downhill.
 
I hear the landing fee at LHR is astronomical. Would be interesting to find out what they charge for the big whales like 747, 777, A380 etc! All this is passed down to us.

I will never go to that airport ever again, its just a mess. No match for Mid East and Asian airports.

Best airports ive flown from in the UK are B'ham and Manchester. What a painless experieince compared to the dump that is LHR.
 
Nanoman said:
Terminal 5 isn't too bad, 4 is a dump.
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Terminal 5 compared to the other 4 terminals at Heathrow is like another world..i remember the first time i walked into it and it was just too quiet for my liking....actually looked around to see if i was in the right place:p.
 
KatanaDV20 said:
I hear the landing fee at LHR is astronomical. Would be interesting to find out what they charge for the big whales like 747, 777, A380 etc! All this is passed down to us.
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There's some out of date information here on LHR charges:-
http://www.peeje.com/automotive/what-fees-charges-heathrow-airpot-22713

I'm sure they're also charged for Air Traffic Control services including Oceanic Clearances.

If you look at this document for Bristol Airport, you can imagine it's higher for Heathrow:

http://www.bristolairport.co.uk/about-us/how-we-do-business/~/media/FeesandCharges2011-2012_Updated-1st-July-2011.ashx
 
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