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Can you buy the same ticket at a lower price if you buy it from another country?

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Re: Can you buy the same ticket at a lower price if you buy it from another country?

#251
post #84
post #80

Somewhat related: If you rent your car via sixt.es instead of sixt.de, you'll get it for a lower price [0] [1] [0] https://www.sixt.es/betafunnel/#/offerlist?zen_pu_location=7... [1] https://www.sixt.de/betafunnel/#/offerlist?zen_pu_location=7...

I wanted to ask "Is it a VAT thing ?" but Spain actually has higher VAT so no I'm pretty sure it's illegal in the EU for the same company to give a different price to customer depending on where they live in the union, I assume they get around that by being "not the same company" but sixt spain and sixt germany instead ...

It's perfectly legal to offer different products or different prices to different markets. What's not legal is blocking someone from accessing a market just because it's not their "home" market.

Skyscanner has come up in this discussion, and full disclosure: I'm an employee. But this is an entirely personal comment.

Skyscanner has a lot of different market-based websites, for example https://www.skyscanner.de and https://www.skyscanner.fr. We don't geo-block, though: wherever you are, you'll have full access to any Skyscanner website, and we'll happily give you whichever market, locale, and currency triple you ask for. And we pass on the underlying market-based prices that we're given. So if you want to know whether different markets get different selections of flights, or different prices for the same flight, it's relatively easy to look and find examples.

Amazon is the same: you'll get different products and prices on de and uk, but if I'm willing to pay shipping then Amazon is willing to sell me stuff from Germany even though the UK left the EU and it's legal for them to block me or give me different prices. Which was very useful when I needed radiator thermostat adapters a couple of months ago.

Re: Can you buy the same ticket at a lower price if you buy it from another country?

#252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not having children is certainly not the ultimate sacrifice. That seems like a really silly sentiment. I think suicide would be the ultimate sacrifice, although stupid for climate change. Ultimate because it’s the last act and ultimate because it’s everything that can be spent. As far as difficulty, devoting one’s life to improving the environment is a bigger sacrifice than childlessness. And raising positive childre…

Wether or not you consider it a sacrifice is really a question of frame of reference. I don't think there's any objective truth in it being a sacrifice or not. However, given that the person I responded to want to have kids, I assumed that having kids was important to them. And given that getting kids is basically something that you devote the rest of your life to it comes in the ball park of "as important to you as…

Good point, sacrifice certainly has some subjectivity to it. If someone uses the term “ultimate sacrifice” then they are ranking sacrifices and have some rationale.

I don’t think there’s an objective arbiter, but for terms of communication there is some need for subjective consensus. I might view chewing sugarless gum as the “ultimate sacrifice” but many others will not.

I don’t think that choosing not to have kids is the ultimate or greatest sacrifice and I gave some of my reasoning. Perhaps if someone thinks kids are the sole purpose in life then giving that up would the ultimate, but I don’t know if that’s very common. And if so, would be quite sad as such a sacrifice for the sake of climate change would be so inconsequential and a waste (like ending one’s own life to prevent emitting carbon from breathing).

Re: Can you buy the same ticket at a lower price if you buy it from another country?

#253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Industry provides valuable products for billions of people. Yes, airplanes and jet fuel for example. > Hundreds of reckless flights that could be zoom meetings benefit no one. Sounds like they were recreational. Or is happiness not permitted either? I'd better not drive 10 minutes down to the beach to walk my dog tomorrow in case the carbon police catch me, lol. For that matter I'll bet having a dog in the first pl…

>Or is happiness not permitted either? Excessive? Better no. >I'd better not drive 10 minutes down to the beach to walk my dog tomorrow in case the carbon police catch me, lol. "drive to walk" is this even real?

> Excessive? Better no.

Excessive according to your judgement?

> "drive to walk" is this even real?

Absolutely carbon-haram? Driving only permitted for essential business reasons?

Re: Can you buy the same ticket at a lower price if you buy it from another country?

#254
post #250
post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I appreciate your concern about CO2 emissions and the effort you're making to reduce your own carbon footprint. It's important to be conscious of our impact on the environment. I wanted to share some of the ways I also work to reduce my carbon emissions and help address climate change. While it's true that I have taken a number of international flights over the past decade, I am very conscious of my carbon footprint…

Where do you buy carbon offsets? I don't fly nearly as much as you but I would like to buy offsets when I do fly (and in general.)

It varies. A lot of airlines offer carbon offsets directly as an option when you buy your ticket. Also, sometimes I buy mine in bulk and not per-flight. Here's a good overview of buying carbon offsets for flights: https://thepointsguy.com/guide/everything-you-need-to-know-c...

Re: Can you buy the same ticket at a lower price if you buy it from another country?

#255
post #67

I've been flying internationally 10-15 times a year for ~10 years. Different routes and destinations each time. I've spent a lot of time searching for hacks like this that let me save a few bucks on flight tickets. Sometimes it works. Sometimes you find that a flight is cheaper depending on which country's website or currency you use to book. Flight tickets are priced dynamically using a variety of factors to determi…

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Instead, or as well, work on helping to change law so that people can't take so many flights.

Re: Can you buy the same ticket at a lower price if you buy it from another country?

#256
post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is a very myopic view. Perhaps OP has a specialist expertise making the travel absolutely necessary? Focus on improving, not limiting. Invest in battery technology, throw billions at it and we will have carbon free air travel

Batteries are not really considered at realistic option for airplanes, AFAIK. The best hope is that they can use synthetic fuel, at a cost of, say, x7 the current price. Regulation could definitely help make that happen -- and those who fly a lot should have to pay for the real price of their transport.

According to whom. There are multiple competing startups developing electric airplanes for regional commercial travel.

Re: Can you buy the same ticket at a lower price if you buy it from another country?

#257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no VAT on international flights. Other taxes, perhaps, but that 20% difference is not so easily explained.

This was not a payment for a flight but for some extra "service", is there no V.A.T. on that either?

I'm not a tax accountant so I couldn't say for certain. But if this is an additional payment for a seat reservation on an international flight, I would assume it falls into the same category of "international travel", which I believe is zero-VAT across EU. If it was something not directly related to the travel aspect itself, e.g. pre booking an inflight meal or lounge access, I would expect VAT to apply. Or a domestic flight within France, of course.

Re: Can you buy the same ticket at a lower price if you buy it from another country?

#258
post #67

I've been flying internationally 10-15 times a year for ~10 years. Different routes and destinations each time. I've spent a lot of time searching for hacks like this that let me save a few bucks on flight tickets. Sometimes it works. Sometimes you find that a flight is cheaper depending on which country's website or currency you use to book. Flight tickets are priced dynamically using a variety of factors to determi…

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Yes, when you realize you're wasting your time and energy on something pointless it is time to stop doing that and focus on what you can change. If you want to control of how people travel all over the planet your best option is the fantasy world of computer games, or to vote for a politician that promises this fantasy.

Re: Can you buy the same ticket at a lower price if you buy it from another country?

#259
post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're worried about climate change, you should not spend your time and resources trying to reduce your own CO2 emissions, but instead, supporting and promoting regulations that force people like yosito to not being able to travel that much, so they will also forcibly start to reduce their footprint.

I get what you're saying about limiting air travel, but let's look at the bigger picture. Commercial flights make up around 2% of global carbon emissions, so forcing people like me not to travel is not going to make a significant dent in climate change. Focusing on industries and companies that are responsible for the bulk of emissions might be a better way to go. Rather than trying to control individuals, we need to…

Absolutely, I agree. And while we were talking about commercial flights, it's true that it's only a small part of the problem. But my message was that I think there is no point in trying to cut down your emissions individually while no one else does. So I think it's either we put limits (both for individuals but also and specially for industries and corps) or we forget about it and just keep having fun until we no longer can.

Cheers!

Re: Can you buy the same ticket at a lower price if you buy it from another country?

#260
post #254
post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where do you buy carbon offsets? I don't fly nearly as much as you but I would like to buy offsets when I do fly (and in general.)

It varies. A lot of airlines offer carbon offsets directly as an option when you buy your ticket. Also, sometimes I buy mine in bulk and not per-flight. Here's a good overview of buying carbon offsets for flights: https://thepointsguy.com/guide/everything-you-need-to-know-c...

Thanks, I'll read it.

I saw that Airlines offer carbon offsets but I'm not sure I trust them.

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