Skip to main content
Travel

Return to Answer

edited body
Source Link
phoog
phoog
  • 135.3k
  • 19
  • 277
  • 454

The short answer is "because they can". Airlines have very sophisticated revenue optimization programs that dynamically adapt the price of the day to supply and demand. Even in Business, there are multiple fare classes (J,Z,D) which offer the same seat at drastically different prices. Since this flight is very soon, they block all the cheap seats and wait for last minute customers that are desperate and rich enough to pay for this. If the seats don't sell, they will typically upgrade high status customers (which is an entire science by itself).

There is also a significant difference in the "niceness" of the seats. International Business is significantly better than Domestic First, often with laylie flat seats and little pods for seating. "International First" is simply for the few people for which money is no object whatsoever. This is currently evolving and many international flights don't have a First Class anymore.

This being said, there are other options. A few new budget carriers have popped up and will probably upset the pricing if they gain traction. For instance, Norwegian offers Boston<->London for about $1500 in Premium Economy. That's actually significantly nicer than Domestic First but not as good as International Business and actually a really good option for this route.

The short answer is "because they can". Airlines have very sophisticated revenue optimization programs that dynamically adapt the price of the day to supply and demand. Even in Business, there are multiple fare classes (J,Z,D) which offer the same seat at drastically different prices. Since this flight is very soon, they block all the cheap seats and wait for last minute customers that are desperate and rich enough to pay for this. If the seats don't sell, they will typically upgrade high status customers (which is an entire science by itself).

There is also a significant difference in the "niceness" of the seats. International Business is significantly better than Domestic First, often with lay flat seats and little pods for seating. "International First" is simply for the few people for which money is no object whatsoever. This is currently evolving and many international flights don't have a First Class anymore.

This being said, there are other options. A few new budget carriers have popped up and will probably upset the pricing if they gain traction. For instance, Norwegian offers Boston<->London for about $1500 in Premium Economy. That's actually significantly nicer than Domestic First but not as good as International Business and actually a really good option for this route.

The short answer is "because they can". Airlines have very sophisticated revenue optimization programs that dynamically adapt the price of the day to supply and demand. Even in Business, there are multiple fare classes (J,Z,D) which offer the same seat at drastically different prices. Since this flight is very soon, they block all the cheap seats and wait for last minute customers that are desperate and rich enough to pay for this. If the seats don't sell, they will typically upgrade high status customers (which is an entire science by itself).

There is also a significant difference in the "niceness" of the seats. International Business is significantly better than Domestic First, often with lie flat seats and little pods for seating. "International First" is simply for the few people for which money is no object whatsoever. This is currently evolving and many international flights don't have a First Class anymore.

This being said, there are other options. A few new budget carriers have popped up and will probably upset the pricing if they gain traction. For instance, Norwegian offers Boston<->London for about $1500 in Premium Economy. That's actually significantly nicer than Domestic First but not as good as International Business and actually a really good option for this route.

Source Link
Hilmar
Hilmar
  • 104.3k
  • 7
  • 181
  • 355

The short answer is "because they can". Airlines have very sophisticated revenue optimization programs that dynamically adapt the price of the day to supply and demand. Even in Business, there are multiple fare classes (J,Z,D) which offer the same seat at drastically different prices. Since this flight is very soon, they block all the cheap seats and wait for last minute customers that are desperate and rich enough to pay for this. If the seats don't sell, they will typically upgrade high status customers (which is an entire science by itself).

There is also a significant difference in the "niceness" of the seats. International Business is significantly better than Domestic First, often with lay flat seats and little pods for seating. "International First" is simply for the few people for which money is no object whatsoever. This is currently evolving and many international flights don't have a First Class anymore.

This being said, there are other options. A few new budget carriers have popped up and will probably upset the pricing if they gain traction. For instance, Norwegian offers Boston<->London for about $1500 in Premium Economy. That's actually significantly nicer than Domestic First but not as good as International Business and actually a really good option for this route.