Price gouge!

Now, we know that the summer months are 'peak period' for the airlines.

Even in China, these days, it seems. Perhaps especially so in China; more and more middle class Chinese are finding themselves with some discretionary leave allowance, and the disposable income to do something with it. And the long school vacation is the ideal time to take a trip, within the country or overseas.

And then, of course, if you're trying to book at short notice, the best bargains have disappeared. Indeed, there are very often automatic ramp-ups of the fares as the number of remaining seats on a flight falls below certain thresholds.

And the high oil prices brought on us by the political instability in the Middle East/North Africa have made things even more painful.

I found it a very unpleasant surprise this week to have to pay over 5,000 rmb for two return air journeys within China.

But a friend of mine has to fly home to Australia at short notice, and.... checking seat availability online last night, he suffered the unfortunate experience of seeing a one-way fare ramp up from 4,600 to 6,600 rmb right before his eyes.

If he'd wanted to fly today, Air China's website was quoting a colossal 16,000 rmb for a one-way ticket. It was quoting that. Minutes later, it had gone up to 18,000 rmb. This morning, he told me, it had risen to 27,000 rmb. Airport taxes not included.

What the f***?  Does anyone really pay that kind of money for the last seat on a plane? Are airlines really happier to have a few seats left empty? Whatever happened to the good old days of the 'bucket shops', the little agencies the airlines would use to dump off their last few seats at bargain basement prices??

I rather suspect this is the kind of commercial madness that would only happen in China.