Air Austral: scam or stupidity?

My request: We would like to modify our return flight booking scheduled for December 3 under reference: O__T. We’d like a flight that gets us to France no later than January 27, 2025, under the same conditions as our current ticket. Please let us know the options and any additional fees. (We paid 2,256 € for the round-trip Bordeaux/Tamatave tickets for 2 people.)

Air Austral’s response: We’ve managed to free up seats for January 22. (Same class.) The penalty and adjustment fee is 895 € per person. (That’s 1,790 € for 2.)

My response: Given the outrageous prices Air Austral is charging for a date change, we’re confirming our flight on December 3, 2024, for Tamatave/Bordeaux. Also, you can count on me to share this experience with Air Austral on various online forums. It’s absolutely shameful to offer a flight change for 1,790 € when buying new tickets would cost us 1,564 €. I think Air Austral’s pricing policy is going to interest a lot of people online, and I can assure you that you’ve just lost two customers who will give you some great publicity.

Despite a complaint, no reaction from Air Austral—they’re clearly in big trouble...

Hi there,

I understand your issue, but what you're describing isn't really specific to this airline. It's hard to generalize, especially since there’s the penalty—which you knew about from the start and which depends on the fare class of your ticket—and then the additional charge, which depends on the current fares for that fare class. That’s how you end up with situations like this. Plus, you’re targeting a poorly served airport, with what seems like a technical stopover, and I assume you’ve got a train connection too. That doesn’t help with flexibility. Maybe try booking just the outbound flight and buying a one-way return from another airport. For example, a return from Antananarivo to Paris on Emirates for your dates is around 500 €.

Michel

"I understand your problem", I think you didn’t quite get what I’m pointing out—or maybe I didn’t explain myself well enough

I just wanted to highlight the fact that I already have a return ticket, and they’re offering me a 1,790 € supplement, whereas if I ignore my existing ticket and buy new ones, it only costs me 1,564 €. Is that clearer? 😉

It’s true that a one-way return from another airport would cost me less… like a Paris/Bordeaux trip, for example

No hard feelings, Michel 😎

Hello,

I understood you perfectly.

With the details you provided, and after taking a curious look at the airline’s website and the availability for your flight, I don’t see anything particularly unusual in what’s being offered to you.

You paid 1,128 € per person, and they’re proposing to change the return date to the one that works for you for 895 € per passenger, which brings the round-trip cost to 2,023 € (fare difference + modification fees).

If you try to buy a similar round-trip ticket today, the price is 3,241 €—return on the 21st, no availability on the 22nd.

Your numbers are pretty mysterious.

Changing a ticket like this is rarely a good deal—it’s not specific to Air Austral. In this case, though, I don’t see anything outrageous.

For the Paris–Bordeaux part, I considered it a secondary detail in my suggestion. You can rent a car for a very modest cost.

Michel