Can Airlines Just Cancel Flights For Economic Reasons Only?

[seasider]

I have beed tracking TG's flights and prices for a while now. Took myself and the kids for a holiday to Thailand in August/September for a very decent price, considering it was the school holidays in the uk.

I was looking to get back over towards the end of November and the London-Bangkok price has remained low and constant for quite a while now with lot's of availability.

Recently, TG have been offering a free domestic flight(return)to any of their domestic destinations when booking a LON-BKK flight before early December.This was before the floods IIRC.

Anyway, i was looking to travel on a wednesday and upon checking yesterday,the evening LON-BKK flight for wednesday had disappeared as had the return afternoon flight (1.30) BKK-LON.

The Tuesday and Thursday evening flight had disappeared too, as had the afternoon flight back to London.

Speaking to a friend working in the travel industry he said that an airline can cancel a flight and re-schedule passengers who had already purchased a ticket.It's all in the terms and conditions.

He also noticed that Thai had cancelled one of their two daily flights the following week on Tuesday,wednesday and thursday.

They must have cancelled as although on the TG website it was showing as 'sold out' on one of the days that had disappeared, i do not believe that all the flights on every tuesday, wednesday and thursday would have sold out one or two days after showing lot's of availability.

Funnily enough, Fridays ,saturdays and sundays flights are still visible and nowhere near full and they would surely sell out their weekend flights before their midweek ones.

Seems they have kept the weekend flights(more demand)

It seems obvious that Thai have decided to pull some of their scheduled flights(midweek flights)and are just operating one flight only in midweek for now.

Just wondering if this will be temporary.

As i mentioned earlier, Thais prices have been low for months(lower than most middle east airlines with stopovers)and it seems like they cannot fill two flights daily especially in midweek.

Not sure this is only a lack of demand due to the flooding.

Maybe this is the end of two flights daily in midweek and outside of high season?

[MarkyM3]

I was looking to book a flight from LHR to Samui via Bangkok a few weeks agoTravelling in last week of November and return just b4 Christmas.

Thai Airways came up on the internet search engines with very attractive prices (approx £560 return) and the prices were consistently confirmed as "live". Didn't really want to fly in one of their old 747's but was willing to give it a shot at that price. Yet over the course of 2 or 3 days, whenever I tried to make the booking online it always failed. Which made me suspect the tickets/prices didn't exist at all.

Gave up on that and am back to using EVA & Bangkok Airways, both of whom have much newer aircraft and better connection times. Cost £150 more but worth it.

Now my main concern is whether Swampy will actually be open.....

[richard_smith237]

I thought their schedule changes at the end of October time...

A regional flight I usually take on Thursday afternoons has since been removed.

[CharlieH]

I tried to take advantage of there supposed 2 for 1 offer and every flight on every day no matter what time was not available...lol..

I see things at Thai Air havnt improved, still full of bogus offers, overpriced CRAP as usual.

Edited November 12, 2011 by CharlieH

[Tropicalevo]

I was looking to book a flight from LHR to Samui via Bangkok a few weeks agoTravelling in last week of November and return just b4 Christmas.

Thai Airways came up on the internet search engines with very attractive prices (approx £560 return) and the prices were consistently confirmed as "live". Didn't really want to fly in one of their old 747's but was willing to give it a shot at that price. Yet over the course of 2 or 3 days, whenever I tried to make the booking online it always failed. Which made me suspect the tickets/prices didn't exist at all.

Gave up on that and am back to using EVA & Bangkok Airways, both of whom have much newer aircraft and better connection times. Cost £150 more but worth it.

Now my main concern is whether Swampy will actually be open.....

Do not worry - I am sure that swampy will be open.

Back to the OP - Bangkok Airways regularly cancel flights if they do not make money.

[chiang mai]

I was looking to book a flight from LHR to Samui via Bangkok a few weeks agoTravelling in last week of November and return just b4 Christmas.

Thai Airways came up on the internet search engines with very attractive prices (approx £560 return) and the prices were consistently confirmed as "live". Didn't really want to fly in one of their old 747's but was willing to give it a shot at that price. Yet over the course of 2 or 3 days, whenever I tried to make the booking online it always failed. Which made me suspect the tickets/prices didn't exist at all.

Gave up on that and am back to using EVA & Bangkok Airways, both of whom have much newer aircraft and better connection times. Cost £150 more but worth it.

Now my main concern is whether Swampy will actually be open.....

Back to the OP - Bangkok Airways regularly cancel flights if they do not make money.

As does TG on domestic flights - their HKT/BKK flight at around 11am is a prime candidate, they wait and see if there's still overflow passengers from the previous flight and if not they will cancel it and push the 11am passengers onto the 12:00 (ish), happened to me too many times and seems to be a countrywide strategy.

[saintofsilence]

Some info here

http://www.thaitravelblogs.com/2011/11/thai-airways-cancels-flights-between-london-and-bangkok-due-to-floods-thaifloodeng/

[PattayaParent]

I tried to take advantage of there supposed 2 for 1 offer and every flight on every day no matter what time was not available...lol..

I see things at Thai Air havnt improved, still full of bogus offers, overpriced CRAP as usual.

Explains why Air Asia is always voted best airline,

[lovenut]

Air Seychelles have just cancelled flights to Singapore for economic resons. Two weeks notice given for the route of choice twixt Thailand and Seychelles.

[AyG]

I had a flight booked with Sabena from Brussels back to the UK. Turned up at the airport to find they'd cancelled it because of insufficient passenger numbers. Was then booked on the next flight, six hours later, and to a different airport, with my car parked at the original destination on the opposite side of London. No compensation offered, and not even a "sorry" spoken. Never flew with them again.

[lovenut]

Sabena Such a bloody experience never again.

[punisher]

I had a flight booked with Sabena from Brussels back to the UK. Turned up at the airport to find they'd cancelled it because of insufficient passenger numbers. Was then booked on the next flight, six hours later, and to a different airport, with my car parked at the original destination on the opposite side of London. No compensation offered, and not even a "sorry" spoken. Never flew with them again.

read this

http://ec.europa.eu/transport/passenger-rights/en/08-air-long-delays.html

[roamer]

If you look at the AVOD thread on this forum, Thai are supposedly retrofitting their aircraft on this route with AVOD's. Could be that this is also the reason why they are pulling flights.

[seasider]

If you look at the AVOD thread on this forum, Thai are supposedly retrofitting their aircraft on this route with AVOD's. Could be that this is also the reason why they are pulling flights.

Yes, that's quite possible.

Last time i flew with them i was told this would be happening soon.

[craigt3365]

I tried to take advantage of there supposed 2 for 1 offer and every flight on every day no matter what time was not available...lol..

I see things at Thai Air havnt improved, still full of bogus offers, overpriced CRAP as usual.

Explains why Air Asia is always voted best airline,

I got stuck in the airport for 8 hours a few years ago because AA canceled a flight due to economic reasons. Sure, it was my fault as I didn't confirm the flight 24 hours in advance, but it was only a 4 day flight! The airport on Penang is not very interesting, FYI....

[tw25rw]

From their web page:

THAI flight cancellation

Thai Airways International regrets to announce that due to the current flood crisis in Thailand, the following flights will be cancelled as a result of the extra ordinary circumstances.

TG916 (departing Bangkok at 1330 to London at 1935) and TG917 (departing London at 2135 to Bangkok at 1555 of the following day) on 15, 22, 23, 24, 29, 30 November 2011, 06 and 13 December 2011.

We would like to apologize for any inconvenience caused. I f you need any further assistance concerning a cancellation, refund or re-booking of your reservation regarding these flights, please do not hesitate to contact your travel agent or our Reservations Office on 0844 561 0911.

For your information, Suvarnabhumi Airport is still operating as normal. All of our domestic flights in particular to the South of Thailand ie Phuket, Samui and krabi have not been affected and are in operation as per normal schedules.

* This announcement is made on 10 November 2011.

[roamer]

From their web page:

THAI flight cancellation

Thai Airways International regrets to announce that due to the current flood crisis in Thailand, the following flights will be cancelled as a result of the extra ordinary circumstances.

TG916 (departing Bangkok at 1330 to London at 1935) and TG917 (departing London at 2135 to Bangkok at 1555 of the following day) on 15, 22, 23, 24, 29, 30 November 2011, 06 and 13 December 2011.

We would like to apologize for any inconvenience caused. I f you need any further assistance concerning a cancellation, refund or re-booking of your reservation regarding these flights, please do not hesitate to contact your travel agent or our Reservations Office on 0844 561 0911.

For your information, Suvarnabhumi Airport is still operating as normal. All of our domestic flights in particular to the South of Thailand ie Phuket, Samui and krabi have not been affected and are in operation as per normal schedules.

* This announcement is made on 10 November 2011.

Lets face it, that's a load of bull. So you announce on the 10th Nov that its not good to fly on the 15th but 16th is Ok ? 22,23,24 are bad days but 25, 26 are fine ?

Obviously they have access to information that is not available to us lesser mortals.

[impulse]

Lets face it, that's a load of bull. So you announce on the 10th Nov that its not good to fly on the 15th but 16th is Ok ? 22,23,24 are bad days but 25, 26 are fine ?

Obviously they have access to information that is not available to us lesser mortals.

They're in business to make money. If they don't sell enough tickets for a flight, they lose money.

The "information" they have is how many tickets they have sold for those days, how many last minute tickets they expect to sell, and consequently, how many seats they need to accommodate those butts-in-seats who have paid for a ticket. If they don't need flights on the 15th, 22nd, 23rd and 24th for the tickets that have and will sell, why would they fly those days at a loss? They're not a charity, nor should they be expected to lose money for the convenience of their fickle customers who will eagerly fly another airline if they can save $2.50 on the flight. Saving money and loyalty works both ways.

Frankly, I salute them for announcing it in advance instead of waiting until you get to the airport to give you the bad news.

Edited November 13, 2011 by impulse

[roamer]

Lets face it, that's a load of bull. So you announce on the 10th Nov that its not good to fly on the 15th but 16th is Ok ? 22,23,24 are bad days but 25, 26 are fine ?

Obviously they have access to information that is not available to us lesser mortals.

They're in business to make money. If they don't sell enough tickets for a flight, they lose money.

The "information" they have is how many tickets they have sold for those days, how many last minute tickets they expect to sell, and consequently, how many seats they need to accommodate those butts-in-seats who have paid for a ticket. If they don't need flights on the 15th, 22nd, 23rd and 24th for the tickets that have and will sell, why would they fly those days at a loss? They're not a charity, nor should they be expected to lose money for the convenience of their fickle customers who will eagerly fly another airline if they can save $2.50 on the flight. Saving money and loyalty works both ways.

Frankly, I salute them for announcing it in advance instead of waiting until you get to the airport to give you the bad news.

Not that simple. Start cancelling too many flights to somewhere like LHR and you will lose your take off and landing slots as well. And Thai does have loyal customers, very loyal to have kept flying on one of the oldest fleets around...

Edited November 13, 2011 by roamer

[SGD]

Thai Air used to be patronised by many Thais who flew on subsidised tickets, especially in the higher classes. I don't think they have had a competitive product in a decade or more.

[Captain Chaos]

I partially agree about the "competitive product", but I think their retrofitted biz class is quite comparable with most other carriers...