Mystery #2

[threemonkeys]

Cheap flights Welly to Auckland (and vice versa) $39 one-way inclusive of all fees etc. Why therefore when I booked a return journey did it end up at $78.01. There isn't much scope for rounding errors when you add 39 + 39.

It doesn't give you much faith in their systems. But then I'm making a booking with an airline that goes out of business 2 weeks after the date of my bookings - I suspect there are other risks involved.

The astute amongst you will have worked out that I have made bookings for local QB weekend for Conscription. The even more astute can probably infer that these particular bookings mean that I won't be travelling on to Adelaide for Conjecture the following weekend. Final confirmation of something I have suspected for a while - it is just a con too far.

Comments

[clockworkflight.livejournal.com]

I suspect it's just a bad system, but does that price include tax? Because there could be a layer of calculation that you can't see - say if the fare is calculated on base fare plus tax, the base fair is what they determine (so usually a round figure), you see the total fare but rounded. If base fare plus tax comes to $39.004 and the system doubles that, the result will be rounded to $78.01.

I think that's a bit of a stretch though. I want to know why on alternate weeks $0.01 is added or subtracted to my pay.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

Yes, you have spotted it. The $39 includes GST. But detail inspection of the ticket shows the return fare is calculated exclusive of GST. That comes to $69.34 ($34.67 each way) - then add GST on that value of $8.67 and you get a grand total of $78.01.

Its still a dumb system though. Smart systems have logic to allow for gross price variations and make micro adjustments. Which is probably what is happening with your pay - there are tweaks in the system to ensure you receive the correct total pay on an annual basis.