Travel question: Airlines are profiteering from the Champions League final – should we boycott them?

Q I am a Liverpool fan and have been watching the fares to reach Madrid for the final of the Champions League against Spurs on 1 June. It is despicable that airlines have increased their prices to such a degree that it is making it very difficult for the average person to afford this monumental moment in sporting history. All companies that have decided to take advantage of this remarkable situation should be utterly ashamed and embarrassed. Can we launch a boycott against them to stop them profiteering?

Robin G

A As soon as Liverpool beat Barcelona to qualify for the Champions League Final in Madrid, fares to the Spanish capital soared. The following evening, Spurs beat Ajax Amsterdam in the other semi-final, and prices rose even further. The standard return fare (economy class) on British Airways from Heathrow to Madrid and back at appropriate times increased to £1,300 return. Meanwhile fares on all alternative routes from northwest England airports to Spain also rose, on airlines such as easyJet and Jet2.

In response to the surge in demand Ryanair laid on three extra outbound flights from Stansted and three return flights from Madrid, selling at £800 return. There were plenty of takers at this price, even though it would be possible to fly to Sydney and back for the same fare.

Normally, by now you would expect dozens of extra flights to have been laid on at more affordable fares. But unfortunately the worldwide grounding of the Boeing 737 Max after two awful accidents means much of the spare capacity has been chartered by airlines such as Norwegian and Tui Airways to cover for gaps in their regular schedules.

Faced with unbridled demand and limited supply, the airlines have done what their shareholders would expect them to do: set their fares at whatever the market may bear. They are not forcing anyone to buy. They are simply offering a scarce resource at a particular price. You and I may regard the sums being charged as absurd, but clearly other people do not. The airlines are making hay when the sun shines – which allows them to keep going through the leaner times. I have no idea why they are not more upfront about “dynamic pricing”, whereby the fare you pay depends on the behaviour of other prospective buyers.

Meanwhile, you and anyone else incensed by this aviation practice are of course free to boycott any company you wish. However, I will observe that vowing never to fly on the biggest airlines serving the UK may limit your future options quite considerably.

Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder