Oh, the newbies…

iberia.png Here’s one to watch: Iberia just announced their spring fares to Europe. Why is that so newsworthy? Well, it’s the way they did it. And that will change.

It always frustrated me that airlines here in the US post their fares as “one-way based on round-trip purchase”. What a deceptive practice this is! They might as well say “multiply by two to get the full price”. The consumer is not offered the actual amount that has to come out of their pocket, no matter if they only want to take one leg or both legs of the journey.

But back to Iberia… lufthansa.png Foreign airlines such as Lufthansa, Aer Lingus and others are used to publish the full price (commonly with taxes included) in their home country, so in their early advertising in the US, they always publish the full price (without taxes since they understand that practice). Within a few advertising cycles, they realize, however, that each other airline publishes “lower” fares and subsequently switch to publishing half-price fares (see image right for today’s Lufthansa ad).

So let’s wait and see when Iberia switches to this frustrating practice…

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