British Airways Is Selling A 2 Hour Flight For Just $12

When ultra-low-budget airlines like Ryanair and Spirt Airlines were introduced to the aviation market, it forced older, more established airlines to rethink their pricing formulae or bleed customers.

The competition between airlines has benefitted the consumer, and we’re seeing lower ticket prices than ever before, even though operational costs have increased.

Photo: Eliyahu Yosef Parypa | Shutterstock

Recently, a deal popped up that would surprise even the most thrifty of travelers. An airline is offering flights for a mind-boggling price of $12.

The first question would be, which budget airline is it? But it isn’t a budget airline, it’s British Airways, one of the oldest airlines in existence.

The deal

On December 17th, a British Airlines flight will depart from San Sebastian (EAS) to London (LCY) at 16:55 local time. The trip will take just 1 hour and 45 minutes and cover 572 miles (921 km).

Seats on this flight were available at a starting price of $12 (£10). The fare is possibly the lowest in modern history. Passengers are more likely to spend more on the cab to the airport.

What’s even more surprising is that the fare is available in December, when air traffic is at its highest, and airlines don’t need to compromise on price. There’s a catch though, the deal was for one-way tickets only.

Return fares are upwards of $312 (£250), which means passengers have to gamble and hope that the ticket for the flight back is cheap as well. But bear in mind that it is the holiday season, and ticket prices will only increase.

At the time of publishing, the deal is no longer available. Tickets now start at $82, a 667% increase.

Once in a lifetime?

We often cover deals here at Simple Flying, but these deals usually tend to be about significant price drops for business or flight-class seats that cost hundreds of dollars.

A recent example is the deal we published about an Atlanta (ATL) to Santiago (SCL) flight with a business-class price reduction of $600.

Photo: Graham Bloomfield | Shutterstock

The main reason our deals page sports most of these high fare prices is because, on the lower end of the spectrum, the consumer has so many choices that a passenger can find exactly what they’re looking for.

However, we’ve never seen anything like this before, it’s incredible. This begs the question, is this the future of airline prices? Doubtful, but consumers should advantage of this deal while it lasts.

The budget airline effect

The low fare can be motivated by a variety of factors, but the main one is the low fares that budget airlines offer consumers.

To stay competitive legacy airlines had to either: reduce their fares or find reasons to justify the higher ticket prices. Many airlines, found settled on a middle ground and split their operations and focus on luxury or economy.

Photo: Markus Mainka/Shutterstock.com

To encourage more passengers to fly with them, legacy airlines offered amenities that budget airlines couldn’t compete with and offered passengers more legroom, high baggage allowances, complimentary in-flight meals, etc.

But price is king, and over time, more and more people prefer to listen to their wallets and fly on budget airlines, which have forced the deals and low ticket prices we see today.