Price Discrimination (case of SIA)

Basic Idea of PD: The practice of charging different people different prices for the same goods or services when such difference does not result from cost factors.

Case Study: SQ route from Singapore to Los Angeles via Narita SQ11/12

Forms of PD
1) Bulk Discounts given to travel agents e.g. Fortune Travel. For example, booking directly for a return flight from Singapore to Los Angeles via Narita on SQ11 costs $3209.00 inclusive of tax (ref: http://www.singaporeair.com/saa/en_UK/Pricing/FlightReview.jsp) while when you book with Fortune Travel costs only $2800.00 inclusive of tax (after calling their hotline)

2)Student Prices. For the same route on SQ, if you are a student travelling to L.A. for studies, tickets can be purchased at 1300.00 incl. tax for a single trip while when booking online for this single trip, it costs 1822.00 inclusive of tax. (First degree PD)

3) Prices Vary by location. Again for the same route on SQ, the return flight can be booked at $3209.00 while if you call the SQ agents in the states, they charge the same flight at 2500 USD which is approx 3400.00 SGD. Thus location wise matters too. (3rd degreee pd)

Additional Information:
SQ27/28 which flies from Singapore to Los Angeles via Taipei will terminate in 2008 due to the introduction of a whole new excutive economy class flight (luxurious service: due to rising income of travellers) which flies direct to LAX (SQ 38). Incidentally, this SQ 27/28 flight was previously the infamous SQ006 which tarnished SQ's image when it crashed at Taipei Taoyuan in 2000. It was renamed SQ 27/28 since.

Hope you enjoy it
liuhao