How can I check the standard (walk up) fare of a certain flight?

[miklcct]

How can I check the standard fare of any scheduled passenger flight in the world, i.e. the fare bought at the airport just before travel? It can be used as a comparison to decide if I buy a ticket in advance, or leave the purchase when I reach the airport (especially on routes when flights are as frequent as every 15 minutes).

Obviously flights operate on a compulsory-reservation model so it's not directly comparable to flexible rail ticket, but what I'm looking for is the price, listed in the fare database, which serves as the price cap for a specific departure and can be bought just before departure.

 

[dastocks]

How can I check the standard fare of any scheduled passenger flight in the world, i.e. the fare bought at the airport just before travel?

With a very few exceptions I think you're deluding yourself if you believe such a thing exists. In The Real World each seat on a flight has a price that depends on the class, who is selling the ticket, who is buying the ticket, and current/forecast demand for the seat.

I have turned up at an airport, marched up to a ticket desk and said 'I need to be on the next flight (with availability) to X', but this was at a time of day when the next flight was unlikely to be full. I know of people who, on the same route, forgot to do an advanced check-in for a flight they had booked and paid for several days in advance and were turned away at the airport check-in desk because the flight was full.

 

[miklcct]

With a very few exceptions I think you're deluding yourself if you believe such a thing exists. In The Real World each seat on a flight has a price that depends on the class, who is selling the ticket, who is buying the ticket, and current/forecast demand for the seat.

I have turned up at an airport, marched up to a ticket desk and said 'I need to be on the next flight (with availability) to X', but this was at a time of day when the next flight was unlikely to be full. I know of people who, on the same route, forgot to do an advanced check-in for a flight they had booked and payed for several days in advance and were turned away at the airport check-in desk because the flight was full.

I know such thing exists on certain routes in China, such as Beijing - Shanghai, where walk up fares on the day are standardised and interavailable for all participating carriers, flights departing every 15-30 minutes, and the boarding gate fixed for the route, which is termed "air shuttle" like a shuttle bus. It was a result of competition with the high speed rail. It's as convenient as boarding a ferry across the harbour.

 

[Myb]

Welcome to the complex world of airline ticketing!

Air fares are divided in classes which are identified with a letter. Each class has a specific availability, fare and fare conditions.

For instance, on British Airways, for economy class, the fare classes are: Q, O, G, V, S, N, M, L, K, H, B, Y (the exact hierarchy might be wrong, apologies, but that gives at least a rough idea).

Y offers the most flexibility and the widest availability, hence it will be the most expensive (i.e. that's the one you're looking for) and Q the cheapest. Not all classes are offered on all flights: they might be restricted for groups or award tickets; and availability might vary depending on the exact routing or point-of-sale.

If you ask a travel agent, it will be quite easy for them to find the Y class fare between X and Y using their GDS software.

Unfortunately, using online travel agencies, it is trickier as they usually only display the cheapest class available, or the cheapest fully flexible class available (in the example above Y, B and H are fully flexible).

Still, there is a way using the great ITA Matrix tool: https://matrix.itasoftware.com/

Choose one-way, enter the departure, arrival and date, and in the "Extension Code" box add: F bc=y which will restrict the fare search to the Y class.

Example search:


This returns the Y class fare for the flight (notice all flights are at the same price...):



Be prepared to be quite shocked as full fares for airlines are really expensive, much more than rail fares!

Low-cost airlines flights are only sold through their proprietary system, rather than being available through global distribution systems, so they will not be displayed through this tool (plus they have much more granularity and agility in setting the fare classes).

PS/ Fun fact that is forgotten these days... up to 2018 one could purchase a "YY fare" which was a fully-flexible fare valid anytime, on any airline. That one was even more expensive...