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Way of things to come…..
Delta plans to price a fifth of its airline seats dynamically using AI by the end of the year. Using models developed by Fetcherr, an Israeli dynamic price startup, Delta is aiming to squeeze revenue from every flight in real time, and plans to remove static pricing completely. It’s only a matter of time before other industries follow. [Fortune]
The US airlines have already been caught out pricing single tickets at a higher fare than a booking for 2 or more on leisure routes. It’s just more of the same, and to say static pricing will be removed completely makes no sense. I’ve seen Delta flight prices change almost daily for years now.
You misunderstood. What they mean is that the price they offer to YOU will be different to the price they offer to somebody else. Meaning, if you and somebody else look at the same flight at the same time, there could be a variation in the proces shown.
They actually already do this, but for a small % of flights. Other industries also do similar.
In some ways it’s similar to what might happen at a car dealership – if you look like you have money then you might not get as good a deal as somebody else who doesn’t.
BA is weird, another one.
I booked 2 Club World flights with Barclaycard one way to Vancouver. All good. A colleague fancied coming too, paying cash. I rang Silver line. Confirmed my seats and said there was 18 CW seats available. Unfortunately though, all those CW and all PE seats on that flight are ‘restricted’ and “cannot be booked”. This is for “operational reasons”. I once again confirmed that we were on that flight. Economy is no problem apparently. Escalated to Manager and they could not access any CW or PE either. Could not explain. Colleague just booked Air Canada instead. As I said, weird…
Are you saying there are no open seats to select or there are no actual tickets on sale?
They aren’t the same thing.
They could not book any CW or PE tickets for that flight. If you go on to BA.com there are no seats available only economy. They specifically said there was availability but it could not be booked. Hence my confusion. I’m going, so that’s all that really matters.
You misunderstood. What they mean is that the price they offer to YOU will be different to the price they offer to somebody else. Meaning, if you and somebody else look at the same flight at the same time, there could be a variation in the proces shown.
No, I get it. Apple users will get charged more than Android users etc. Geo location will play a bigger part, so if you allow location services you’ll be charged higher if you book from somewhere in expensive London than a downtrodden part of Yorkshire.
It’s just micro-segmentation because the back end server will be able to juggle more variables and provide a price based on 100 variables rather than a couple.
Buried on one of the pages on Auntie’s site:
As we have been reporting, frequent travellers from the UK to Germany will be allowed to use e-gates upon arrival by next month, with all UK nationals able to use them “as soon as technically possible”.
Since the UK left the EU bloc, many popular holiday destinations have seen long queues of British travellers at airports as they wait for passports to be checked.
UK citizens can expect to be able to use e-gates across the EU in October – when a new scheme is planned to come into effect which enhances border security. The new European Entry Exit Scheme (EES) gathers biometric data on citizens arriving in the EU from non-member, third party countries which the UK is since Brexit.
At the UK-EU summit in May, it was agreed that there was no legal barrier to UK citizens using EU e-gates.
The Cabinet Office says that since then, e-gates access for travellers from the UK has increased in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Portugal
Can egates at European airports be used (where allowed) by families with small kids? Or do they only allow families with children above 10 years like UK?
@davefl Will there still be checks to police 90 day maximum stay per year in the EU for UK passport holders with more egate accessibility?
@davefl Will there still be checks to police 90 day maximum stay per year in the EU for UK passport holders?
Absolutely. Once the new EES scheme is up and running it’ll be easy to do on an automated basis. My belief is that’s why they are saying egate access will be after October. That being said EES has been postponed several times so there’s no guarantee it’ll begin on time.
I’m glad it won’t be me trying to fingerprint drunken stag/hen pax at 7am before they are allowed to board.
It’s not 90 days per year though, it’s 90 days in a rolling 180 day period.
Thanks @davefl .
Can egates at European airports be used (where allowed) by families with small kids? Or do they only allow families with children above 10 years like UK?
If you consider the height of the camera apparatus on the egate I’d be very surprised if a small child could be captured by it, let alone put their passport in the correct way round. There’s a high percentage of adults that can’t manage that simple task either 🙂
More news today – US ESTA prices to increase to $40 (from $21), and US Visa to $435 (from $185) at some point in the future, maybe 2026 but no date set.
Hi – Just had a totally wasted chat with BA Agent trying to confirm if I cancelled a short haul economy flight did I get back all my Avios and what was the cancellation fee. Can someone clarify I was looking at maximum avios and £2 option (have avios spare and comparing to cash flight the avios are working out at 1p+ in avios sale). If I have to cancel do I get all my avios back but do I only lose the £2 or whatever price option I chose upto a maximum of £35 per person.
The Agent stated that I would pay £35 per person but my understanding rightly or wrongly was I only lost the cash amount I paid up to the £35 maximumA bit of excitement in the Froggee household tonight as, after a nice jaunt to London, Mrs Froggee and Freddo’s flight back tonight has been cancelled.
Sad face
Kermit has stormed off upstairs as he does not feel this is fair. And – let’s face it – he likes his mum a lot more than he likes me.
Meanwhile I am thoroughly confused as I just took a panicked call from Mrs Froggee needing a copy of Freddo’s passport as otherwise they weren’t going to let him back land side. Which kinda seems a bit illegal to me but I’m guessing it is more the quicker way of doing things of going via immigration vs escorting out? She did what she was told to do by British Airways.
They are rebooked on the 6:15am flight tomorrow morning which sucks. A lot.
British Airways actually offered hotels but I told Mrs Froggee to opt out of that as they were suboptimal. Head to the Sofitel said I. Familiarity goes a long way for an eight year old. Plus an extra half hour in bed and no stress at that time in the morning goes even further for Mrs Froggee.
If British Airways don’t pay then so be it.
And speaking of not paying, they are claiming inclement weather at Heathrow so they won’t be compensating her either.
I’m sure travel used to be fun?
@GaryE, when you cancel a booking online, normally you will be shown what you’ll be refunded prior to committing to the cancellation. It’s a quirk of the system that for now you should only lose what you’ve paid, up to £35 pp. BA will of course tell you it’s £35 as that’s in the Ts and Cs.
@Froggee, that does sound odd given that you don’t need a passport to fly domestically within the U.K.! What if he didn’t have one?@GaryE, when you cancel a booking online, normally you will be shown what you’ll be refunded prior to committing to the cancellation. It’s a quirk of the system that for now you should only lose what you’ve paid, up to £35 pp. BA will of course tell you it’s £35 as that’s in the Ts and Cs.
@Froggee, that does sound odd given that you don’t need a passport to fly domestically within the U.K.! What if he didn’t have one?Thank you for the explanation that was my understanding
You misunderstood. What they mean is that the price they offer to YOU will be different to the price they offer to somebody else. Meaning, if you and somebody else look at the same flight at the same time, there could be a variation in the proces shown.
No, I get it. Apple users will get charged more than Android users etc. Geo location will play a bigger part, so if you allow location services you’ll be charged higher if you book from somewhere in expensive London than a downtrodden part of Yorkshire.
It’s just micro-segmentation because the back end server will be able to juggle more variables and provide a price based on 100 variables rather than a couple.
The EU is already hot on this with the plans for a Digital Fairness Act, alongside looking at the possibilities under the AI Act and the now long in the tooth GDPR
Anyone having problems logging into BA Avios bookings at the moment?? trying to see if I can get a reward seat! – tried on laptop and mobile, just says ‘high demand’
@NorthernLass – I agree it seems strange. But straight from the horse’s mouth “BA just told me to go downstairs from the original Gate 19 and they had someone holding the door and telling people to go to baggage claim 10 to get their bags. That way got us to passport control and out”
I’m guessing if you did not have ID then they might have needed to get Heathrow/BA involved to show that you had been scanned and photographed into airside.
Weirdly Mrs Froggee was able to get in by just showing her (UK) driving licence. Border patrol knew what was happening but I am still surprised particularly as she’s a bit foreign and all.
The EU is already hot on this with the plans for a Digital Fairness Act, alongside looking at the possibilities under the AI Act and the now long in the tooth GDPR
And I’m sure it’ll be just as toothless as all the other IT related edicts over the decades such as fining Microsoft for putting their browser first in Windows and Google’s alleged monoplistic behaviour etc.
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