Why do airlines charge more depending on your length of stay?

[Rupert grint]

This concept has me quite baffled. I am traveling overseas this season for 3 months. Japan to be precise. I spend the better part of a week researching every possible ticket price, from both online and offline vendors. The results of this were universal regardless of the airline.

In order to purchase at ticket for 30-45 days It was 600-700 round trip. As soon as I adjusted my dates to 90 days, the price doubled. I asked this question to service representatives at 3 major airlines, and not a single one of them could give me a decent answer.

Why should I have to pay more to stay long in another country. It is costing the airline NOTHING extra to have me stay there. The only possible expense the airline would incur would be the storage of my flight information data. That doesn't cost $1000. Does anyone know why airlines do this? (I ended up booking at AA, best price I could get at 1500).

 

[rvolkcpa]

This concept has me quite baffled. I am traveling overseas this season for 3 months. Japan to be precise. I spend the better part of a week researching every possible ticket price, from both online and offline vendors. The results of this were universal regardless of the airline.

In order to purchase at ticket for 30-45 days It was 600-700 round trip. As soon as I adjusted my dates to 90 days, the price doubled. I asked this question to service representatives at 3 major airlines, and not a single one of them could give me a decent answer.

Why should I have to pay more to stay long in another country. It is costing the airline NOTHING extra to have me stay there. The only possible expense the airline would incur would be the storage of my flight information data. That doesn't cost $1000. Does anyone know why airlines do this? (I ended up booking at AA, best price I could get at 1500).

I have encountered this situation booking flights for my son who attends college in Hawaii. Low priced round trip tickets from the New York area to Honolulu allow stays up to 60 days. For the first 3 semesters, I was able to redeem frequent flyer awards, which don't have similar restrictions. For the spring semester I did find one airline that allowed a longer stay.

Have you tried searching fares on kayak.com? I was able to find a reasonable one-way fare for my son's return to college in January 2008.

 

[Travelagent]

Have either of you tried a travel agent (I mean a real person that you can call up and talk to on the old fashion telephone) that specializes in international travel? To answer your question, my best guess-timate would be they are trying to cover themselves in the event of a fuel increase. I use consolidators that have negotiated fares, both one way and longer stays. For students (my speciality is study abroad) I have fares that are good for 365 days and also one way fares that are much lower and less restrictive than published or "online" fares. I have yet been able to decipher the rhyme or reason behind fare structures. Sometimes I think career builder films their office monkey commercials in some airlines fare and load control department.

 

[Rupert grint]

Have you tried searching fares on kayak.com?

No! sir! I will definitely try this!

Have either of you tried a travel agent (I mean a real person that you can call up and talk to on the old fashion telephone) that specializes in international travel?

Why I should have tried a travel agent? sir!

 

[Travelagent]

Have a great day! 🙄

 

[kenadams]

The lenght of stay is used to assess why one is traveling. Airlines are basically interested in finding out how important the trip is to you because that influences how much you are willing to pay.
The Saturday night rule is a common example (now applies mostly to intercontinental travel, and often witin Europe): if you don't plan on staying a Saturday night, many airlines assess that you are traveling for business. This makes your trip important, which means you are probably willing to pay more. Discounted fares are usually offered if you are staying a Saturday night in your destination.
Most discounted fares also have maximum stay requirements: 21 days is common for deeply discounted, turistic fares. Exceeding 21, 60, or 90 days (depending on fare, airline, route, etc.) makes an airline think that you are either tourist with lots of cash (that's quite a long vacation), or that you have other reasons to travel that are more important to you (business, study, etc.).

I agree with the advice given previously: travel agents sometimes know where to look for good fares that don't have maximum stay requirements (or, rather, that set a high maximum stay requirement, usually a year which is the validity of most tickets).