Flights on a match weekend

Just have one or two questions in relation to pricing and availability.

Bought tickets to the Rugby in March yesterday, Ireland/Scotland.

Flights for the Fri-Sun slots were coming in over E200 so that was a non runner given it's just to Edinburgh, couldn't justify it.

So decided to alter the days and Thurs-Mon was E98 last night, it moved a few times from E98 to E102 and back again.
Been keeping an eye on Skyscanner.

Anyway at some point today it rose to E113-E118.
Even though it's only E15 more, I honestly couldn't be bothered giving them the extra money out of principle.

So my questions are:

What are the chances it'll drop to near E100 again?, I was reasonably happy to pay the E100(still double the usual price) or is this just an upward graph.

Secondly, if a flight sells out extremely early can the operator put on additional flights?.
Surely if demand is sufficient and the destination is reasonably close it makes sense to add additional flights at a later date?

As of now the best option seems to be to go Dub-Edin and then Glas-Dub for E53 then pay nearly E120.

killbillvol2

If it's a match weekend prices will go up. You should have booked the flights when you were happy with the price.

killbillvol2

killbillvol2 wrote: »

If it's a match weekend prices will go up. You should have booked the flights when you were happy with the price.

I would, but I don't get paid until tomorrow.

I'm more concerned about how the system works.
It seems to be completely computerised.

The numbers booking for the match would be dropping already since the tickets went on sale yesterday.

I'm also curious to know are additional flights added when others fill up at an early stage.

killbillvol2

gilberto_eire wrote: »

I would, but I don't get paid until tomorrow.

I'm more concerned about how the system works.
It seems to be completely computerised.

The numbers booking for the match would be dropping already since the tickets went on sale yesterday.

I'm also curious to know are additional flights added when others fill up at an early stage.

They might add extra flights but they won't come on stream at the normal low price point.

I'd also say a lot of people booked the flights before they bought the tickets.

Sheldons Brain

gilberto_eire wrote: »

The numbers booking for the match would be dropping already since the tickets went on sale yesterday.

The numbers of new bookings is dropping, but the plane is now full.

gilberto_eire wrote: »

I'm also curious to know are additional flights added when others fill up at an early stage.

Its not a bus, airlines don't have lots of planes lying around and putting on a an extra flight is relatively complicated. Extra flights are not that usual.

ProudDUB

It's not unheard of for airlines to add on additional flights if the demand is there. When I was going to the Heineken Cup final in Twickenham back in 2012, Ryanair added on two more late evening flights from Gatwick, that weren't a part of their regular schedule. If they do add them on, they definitely won't be at the 'normal' cheap rate. OP, have you considered flying into Glasgow and getting the train to Edinburgh? That may be cheaper overall.

athtrasna

Last time we did Edinburgh for a 6N weekend it was cheapest to fly into Newcastle and hire a car and drive up. Scenic drive that's easy enough.

killbillvol2

Sheldons Brain wrote: »

Its not a bus, airlines don't have lots of planes lying around and putting on a an extra flight is relatively complicated. Extra flights are not that usual.

Both Ryanair and Aer Lingus regularly add flights for big matches. In those cases it's not very complicated at all as they've allowed for the possibility of high demand. As I said previously though, they don't use the same pricing model.

ProudDUB

Another thing to bear in mind is the stunts that airlines sometimes pull for high demand events. They sell seats as normal. Then they cancel the flights, refund peoples money, but then reschedule the flights again a few days later..... and hey presto the prices are at a much higher price than the original ones were. It's not unheard of for Ryanair to do that, but its been a couple of years since I saw a lot of complaints about it, so I dunno if they still do it a lot.

ProudDUB

ProudDUB wrote: »

It's not unheard of for airlines to add on additional flights if the demand is there. When I was going to the Heineken Cup final in Twickenham back in 2012, Ryanair added on two more late evening flights from Gatwick, that weren't a part of their regular schedule. If they do add them on, they definitely won't be at the 'normal' cheap rate. OP, have you considered flying into Glasgow and getting the train to Edinburgh? That may be cheaper overall.

I was looking into the other options alright.

As of when I posted this thread, the option to Fly into Edinburgh at 6:45 on Thursday(as with the E98 offer last night) but then return from Glasgow at 8pm on the Monday was coming in at E54 plus two rounds of add ons whatever they'd work out at.
That compared to over E200 to do the preferred option of Fri-Sun and then E113-118 for the Thurs-Mon I mentioned in this thread.

That was looking like the option but I said I'd check to thread to see how the system works out and maybe sit tight for a week or two and see does the price come back down again to at most E100.

Also there's an Aer Lingus for E120 so I'd be confident between that and the Glasgow route that I could risk waiting for the price to possibly drop again or something new to pop up.

It is a full three months away, so I don't think it's beyond the realm of possibility that I'd get flights for E100 between now and then...?... not expecting a plane leaving in a week or two to drop so there must be a difference .

I looked into Newcastle alright but it was E200 yesterday and then you'd obviously need to add on travel from there.

I'm not expecting to get the seats for E50 as they are priced the following weekend, but being a Student I'm not looking to pay over E300 between flights and accom'.

ProudDUB

gilberto_eire wrote: »

It is a full three months away, so I don't think it's beyond the realm of possibility that I'd get flights for E100 between now and then...?... not expecting a plane leaving in a week or two to drop so there must be a difference .

To be honest, I do think it is unrealistic. There are only a few dates in the year that the airlines know that they have people by the short and curlies, if they want to travel to a specific destination, on specific dates. The Six Nations games are right up there with Christmas and Paddys Day.

Given the overall optimism surrounding the Irish team these days, I'd imagine that there will be a lot of traveling support to our away Six Nations games. The airlines know that & their prices will reflect that. The later that you leave it to book, the lower your chances are of getting a flight at a reasonable price imo.

moonskiis

My first time heading to Edinburgh for a 6N's game and I have direct flights to Edinburgh, Friday to Sunday, hotel accommodation, and a match ticket for just under €350. Not sure I could have got much better. Would like to know what people think?

I looked into a few different ways of getting to Edinburgh but none worked out cheap enough for me to justify not flying direct to Edinburgh

braddun

look up google/flights

ProudDUB

moonskiis wrote: »

My first time heading to Edinburgh for a 6N's game and I have direct flights to Edinburgh, Friday to Sunday, hotel accommodation, and a match ticket for just under €350. Not sure I could have got much better. Would like to know what people think?

I looked into a few different ways of getting to Edinburgh but none worked out cheap enough for me to justify not flying direct to Edinburgh

That sounds pretty good. I was in Edinburgh last Xmas and I found it hard to get a decent hotel in the city centre that was close to the action, for under 100 quid per night. Factor in it being a match weekend (when flight prices & hotel prices tend to be very high) and your having a ticket, and I think its a good deal.

Then again, the only way to know for sure is to break it down to its individual parts and see if you can do it better. Murrayfield is not in the city centre, so you be able to get a cheap B&B on the outskirts for not a lot of money. But you may wind up spending more on taxis to get about than you would if you were staying somewhere more central.

moonskiis

ProudDUB wrote: »

That sounds pretty good. I was in Edinburgh last Xmas and I found it hard to get a decent hotel in the city centre that was close to the action, for under 100 quid per night. Factor in it being a match weekend (when flight prices & hotel prices tend to be very high) and your having a ticket, and I think its a good deal.

Then again, the only way to know for sure is to break it down to its individual parts and see if you can do it better. Murrayfield is not in the city centre, so you be able to get a cheap B&B on the outskirts for not a lot of money. But you may wind up spending more on taxis to get about than you would if you were staying somewhere more central.

The hotel is €35 a night but is 15-20 mins taxi outside centre. Cheaper than what most hostels are charging, albeit they are central. Only 10 min taxi to Murrayfield though.

There is a group of 3 so far but probably more joining so hopefully don't spend too much on taxis! Flight with Aer Lingus was €200 and got a match ticket in the general sale yesterday

ProudDUB

Still sounds like a good deal to me. Although only you know what you'll be doing when you are there....how will you get to the hotel from the airport? What will you be doing on Friday night & where? How will you get to Murrayfield on Saturday? Where will you be going afterwards?

The game is at 2.30, so you have most of the evening/night to go on the piss. Where will you be doing that? How will you get back to your hotel afterwards? What time is your flight on Sunday? Will you be doing more boozing or touristy stuff before your flight, and if so where? How will you get to the airport?

On these kind of weekends, I've learned from experience, to not just factor in how easy/hard or how expensive/cheap it is to get to/from the stadium, but the weekends activities as a whole.

zagmund

There's flights to Birmingham & back at normal o'clock that weekend for €33, and there are trains direct from the airport to Edinburgh. Sadly it seems there are no saver fares on those trains as they are working out at something like £120 per direction for the train. I'm sure there must be some saver fares somewhere, or else a bus route.

z

schemingbohemia

zagmund wrote: »

There's flights to Birmingham & back at normal o'clock that weekend for €33, and there are trains direct from the airport to Edinburgh. Sadly it seems there are no saver fares on those trains as they are working out at something like £120 per direction for the train. I'm sure there must be some saver fares somewhere, or else a bus route.

z

I think it's too early for the saver fares, think they come on stream a bit closer to the date, there's good info on www.seat61.com on when to book.

The OP needs to remember that there's a false economy in staying extra days to save on flight costs, unless they're staying in a dorm in a hostel, their accommodation costs and entertainment costs are going to eat substantially into whatever money they've saved by flying Thursday - Monday!

moonskiis

ProudDUB wrote: »

Still sounds like a good deal to me. Although only you know what you'll be doing when you are there....how will you get to the hotel from the airport? What will you be doing on Friday night & where? How will you get to Murrayfield on Saturday? Where will you be going afterwards?

The game is at 2.30, so you have most of the evening/night to go on the piss. Where will you be doing that? How will you get back to your hotel afterwards? What time is your flight on Sunday? Will you be doing more boozing or touristy stuff before your flight, and if so where? How will you get to the airport?

On these kind of weekends, I've learned from experience, to not just factor in how easy/hard or how expensive/cheap it is to get to/from the stadium, but the weekends activities as a whole.

I think there's a bus route, directly outside the hotel, that would bring us to Murrayfield and/or City Centre. I imagine there will be plenty of boozing done the Friday and Saturday nights! Will only use the hotel to rest for a few hours! A combination of bus/taxis/trams/trains will be used to get around and to and from the airport.

Flight home isn't until 8pm but don't mind too much as will probably use this time to look around Edinburgh.

schemingbohemia

schemingbohemia wrote: »

I think it's too early for the saver fares, think they come on stream a bit closer to the date, there's good info on www.seat61.com on when to book.

The OP needs to remember that there's a false economy in staying extra days to save on flight costs, unless they're staying in a dorm in a hostel, their accommodation costs and entertainment costs are going to eat substantially into whatever money they've saved by flying Thursday - Monday!

Ya I get the extra costs, but I'd rather get 4 nights and travel for e230(based on e100 flights at the time of booking accom) than pay over e200 for just flights at the Fri-Sun option.

Going with the GF as well so wouldn't be a drink heavy weekend.

schemingbohemia

Just fly to Glasgow with Ryanair - coming in at €53, out Thursday back Monday. You can get from Glasgow to Edinburgh fairly cheaply.

keithclancy

ProudDUB wrote: »

Another thing to bear in mind is the stunts that airlines sometimes pull for high demand events. They sell seats as normal. Then they cancel the flights, refund peoples money, but then reschedule the flights again a few days later..... and hey presto the prices are at a much higher price than the original ones were. It's not unheard of for Ryanair to do that, but its been a couple of years since I saw a lot of complaints about it, so I dunno if they still do it a lot.

Rubbish

zagmund

I've seen enough threads on this forum to indicate that something like that happens. There have been threads along the lines of "I booked a flight to <insert high demand route> which departs at 0700 and planned on getting the 1100 bus which will have me at the match for kick off at 1400. Now <insert airline> have told me that my flight has been moved to depart at 1500. Meantime, I can see that they now have a new flight at 0705 which wasn't listed when I booked my original flight, but it will cost me €x to book that flight".

I'm paraphrasing, but I've see this a couple of times here over the years.

z

ProudDUB

keithclancy wrote: »

Rubbish

No it isn't. Have a read back of some of the 2011/2012 rugby & travel forums when big Heineken Cup or Six Nations games were on. You will see plenty of complaints from people who had to deal with the issue.

AndonHandon

Sail and rail is less than €100 return and this does not change with big events. The longer travel time is somewhat offset by the more comfortable travel experience.

Alternatively, sail and rail one way and fly the return.

rainbow kirby

Seconding flying to Newcastle if that's an option - metro to the central train station from the airport and jump on the King's Cross to Edinburgh train there. East Coast Trains are one of the better operators out there.

rainbow kirby

rainbow kirby wrote: »

Seconding flying to Newcastle if that's an option - metro to the central train station from the airport and jump on the King's Cross to Edinburgh train there. East Coast Trains are one of the better operators out there.

It was coming in over E200 at the time.

Anyway just to update this, we ended up getting DIRECT flights into Edinburgh on the second option days Thurs-Mon(pref would have been Fri-Sun) with Aer Lingus for E63.

Have to do two early flights, which I don't like... more so on the way back, but holding back from the Ryanair flights for E113-118 paid off in the end as we saved E60 and don't have to fly back from Glasgow which was looking like the main option at the time of this thread.

They also take a Drivers License going to England so I don't have to renew my Passport for another while... win win