British Airways tickets are being sold for 'crazy numbers' after the company announced a massive reduction in its scheduling, according to an aviation expert.
On Monday BA said it would be cutting roughly 10,000 short-haul flights to and from Heathrow Airport between late October and March, as well as around a dozen round-trips per day - totalling 629 flights - until the end of October.
The flag carrier claimed it was doing so to hit Heathrow's self-enforced 100,000 a day passenger cap, and would be "protecting key holiday destinations over half-term".
Rob Burgess, editor of frequent flyer website headforpoints.com, criticised the company for cutting services, arguing that there was not "much risk of the cap being exceeded on most days" outside of school holidays.
"In terms of fares, there is little doubt that they will spike," he told The Mirror. "I paid £1,200 last week to fly my wife and daughter to Hamburg on BA after my wife's father suffered a health scare.
"We are paying £1,800 for four one-way seats back from Croatia on BA on 4 September, because it is the last day to get back before the schools return.
"Late September on BA throws up some crazy numbers. For example, £336 for a hand-baggage only BA economy flight to Palma from 20-23 September -dates I just randomly picked, well after the schools go back - is not normal."
While comparing ticket prices across a number of years is difficult due to a lack of publicly available data, looking on BA's website shows post-holiday prices from Heathrow are high.
Flying out to Spanish holiday hotspot Palma on October 1 and returning a week later currently costs up to £390 for an economy ticket.
On the same dates and class, an hour and twenty minute flight to Paris costs as little as £202 and as much as £262.
Getting to Berlin and back on the same days can cost up to £355 economy, although one return fare is available for £85.
By comparison, flying from Stansted to Palma and back on the same days with Ryanair costs as little as £50 if bought today.
When the Mirror asked BA whether ticket prices would rise as a result of the price cap, the company did not rule it out.
Instead it directed attention to its statement made at the time of the announcement of the latest flight cuts.
“Following Heathrow’s decision to extend its passenger cap we’re making adjustments to our short-haul schedule for the next two months,” a BA spokesperson said.
“While the vast majority of our customers will travel as planned and we’re protecting key holiday destinations over half-term, we will need to make some further cancellations up to the end of October.
“We’ll be offering customers affected by any of these changes an alternative flight with British Airways or another airline or the option of a refund.
“In addition, we’re giving customers travelling with us this winter notice of some adjustments to our schedule, which will include consolidating some of our short-haul flights to destinations with multiple services.”
