I’ve noted here before that the price of a journey by plane can vary dramatically depending on where you start your journey.
Another incredible example of this has just surfaced, saving big money for business-class passengers flying from the Middle East.
Basically, because airlines are looking to increase their market share from places other than home base, they often discount fares from those places where its very competitive and they are trying to gain a toehold.
Or, in other cases, it might just be that they have some extra capacity to fill and are willing to offer seats at lower prices than usual.
Over at the popular One Mile At a Time blog, writer Ben Schlappig (“Lucky”) has discovered some cheap fares on Emirates airline from Cairo, where the fare prices also benefit from a drop in the value of the Egyptian currency.
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He cites business-class flights to Bangkok from US$789.40; to Tokyo for $955; to LA for $1,354.09 and to Melbourne for $1,819.
Well, I did a little further checking and discovered that Etihad also offers much cheaper business-class fares ex-Cairo than ex-Abu Dhabi (even though they connect in Abu Dhabi) — a saving of almost 50 per cent on one flight I checked to Brisbane.
And, surprise, surprise, Qatar Airways offered almost exactly the same price as Etihad.
Of course, you have to add in the price of back-tracking from wherever you are to Cairo, but it’s more than worth it in terms of money saved.
As Lucky suggests, you can compare flights via ITA Matrix or Google Flights, but they are also bookable using the airlines’ own websites.
