Air Ticket Prices

The Gulf Times has an article about the sudden rise in airfare prices now that it is peak season. This is timely as I've just had a similar experience with airfares myself.

But first just to give you an idea of how much the airfares have gone up, the article mentions that Doha-London return is QR 5,300 (~$1,450). My winter trips to Canada, typically Doha-London, London-Vancouver, are around QR 5,600-6,000 for the entire trip. . . and London-Vancouver is the longer leg of the two.

Doha-Paris now at QR 5,600 (~$1,525)? Typically it would be around QR 4,000 (~$1,100).

Now for my story, a few weeks ago my friend Murat wanted to take his wife to London for Eid and since he's never been there before, but I have, we were all going to go together and I would show them around. Well the prices for the air tickets were outrageous and we figured out that the trip would be over his budget so we cancelled those plans. Instead he invited me to travel with them to Turkey where he could show me around. Sounds like a plan to me!

So earlier this week I went online to look at tickets to Istanbul and found that the day I wanted to travel (and the following day) was already sold out -- nearly two months in advance. And tickets on the days around when I wanted to travel were going to cost QR 4,600 (~$1,225). WTH, it's not even a four-hour flight!

So I told my friend Murat and he suggested we look at flights to Ankara. It'll be a bit farther drive to get to his hometown (extra four hours) but maybe flights are available on the day we want and he has some relatives in Ankara as well.

Sure enough, there were flights available on any of the days. And the price? QR 2,800! (~$750) For a flight of nearly the same distance.

Okay I realize that supply and demand might create a price increase but what some of these airlines try to get away with is outrageous. $500 difference in price for going to a different city nearby? Why!?

Anyway, if you're planning to go to Turkey on vacation this summer think about flying to Ankara instead of Istanbul.