I REALLY hate airline pricing games. Recently made vacation flight reservations and felt good about the price. 5 days later, it drops 20%. A large amount for us, but not large enough to incur the change fee. First world problem…and I know going in, that this can happen. I don’t intentionally check after the fact, but this time it showed up on my computer screen side bar like it was teasing me. l I also tell myself that if our price was fine when we made reservations, it still is. But it still takes some of the ‘shine’ out of our upcoming trip.
^I hate that, too. Fly Southwest. No change fee.
I agree with the OP. And it is a game. I have a trip coming up in April with my best friend of 43 years. We purchased airline tickets in August (yes, 8 months out…I have faith) - but wait, there’s more. We’re flying out to take a cruise (booked a full 18 months out - which gives us monthly payments we can afford and less financial stress for us both). The prices for both (air and cruise) have done nothing but go up and up and up since. I have one hard and fast rule which is to be “happy” with the price I pay, and leave it alone. Of course I HAVE to look at the prices, because I’m partially crazy, but also because the cruise line will match their own lower fares up to 6 days before sail date. In the past we’ve watched our fares go down, but not this time. My friend is not computer literate so leaves it all up to me (and I’m a control freak, and love being in charge! win-win) - she is just delighted to have an exotic vacation coming that we’ve been planning for a year and a half. My take away from this one is that the out of the ballpark early bird does indeed get the worm. And for those curious, we do buy top of the line travel insurance, which provides for cancellation for any reason (knock wood, never had to file a claim), and we’re off to the Eastern Caribbean for a week and the Florida Keys for 5 days post cruise.
Agreed. H was looking at the mileage/fares with mileage for D’s spring break, which is earlier than most, but the fares and the amount of miles needed go way up the week she is off, and less than half the miles needed the week before and after.It’s still much cheaper using the miles than any other fare, but come on. It’s such a racket.
After I purchase my tickets, I never check the prices again. Why set yourself up for potential aggravation?
just remember if there are 100 other people on the plane the guy next to you paid 25.00 dollars more than you and the one behind you paid 5 dollars less. once you buy a ticket never look back.
100 people who paid 150 different prices (yes my math is off)
Track the prices with google flights, and when the fare drops to where you are comfortable, book it. I did this recently, and then it dropped again less than 24 hrs later, so got the airlines ro adjust the price (Delta). The guy nest to me onthe plane paid more than $200 more than I did for the flights.
I agree with jym626. I usually know how much it should cost and when it falls below that number I book it. Buying airline ticket is like buying stock, it is hard to buy at the bottom. I don’t usually buy longer than 3 months ahead.
I hate those games too. We fly SW whenever we can, but it is not always possible. Flying out of our airport also makes it more expensive, as there are fewer flights and even less direct ones. My H is a diver and flies to many small Caribbean airports, so has to book early to get a seat on the plane, especially when a large number of people from his local dive club are going to be on the same flight! My kids in DC and LA get better rates and flights than we can from home.
One thing I like about southwest is that I can book multiple flights and cancel those I don’t use without penalty.
I don’t think of it as a game but as a good business practice. Airplane seats have different values depending on how likely they are to be used and how many other seats on a particular plane are available.
I was watching prices for our trip to visit DD over thanksgiving and the prices were only going up. Finally I booked with JetBlue less than a month before the flight. The next day prices dropped $50 per ticket. I called them and since it was within 24 hours after I purchased my tickets, they gave us credit that we used for our next trip.
For kicks I just checked our one-way flights (I said earlier I’m a bit nuts about this) - we paid $131 p/p for the same flight/airline that is now $237 p/p. I find it ludicrous that the price is so much higher now.
i think there is some sort of computer formula or macro thing that automatically and instantly changes prices based on the # seats available. My husband and I and my brother and His wife (from England) met up at my son’s house in SC last may for a couple of weeks. My daughter was flying in for a lonq weekend but her husband didn’t have vacation (we nixed their idea of flying in Saturday and out Sunday - one delay and disaster). I used some miles I had for her ticket as by the time she made her mind up the prices were unaffordable for her. Closer to the date, her husband got some comp time and really wanted to come. I was trying to use my remaining miles and get him on the same flight but couldn’t. So then I tried changing her flight and getting them both on a different one but it seemed like the price would change for one after I held the other. Finally had to call the airline and have them sort it out for me cause i was really worried I’d push the buy button for one then the price would shoot up for the other. It even took the helpful guy on the phone a considerable time to do it cause he ran into the same problem.
If you google “yield management” and “airline industry”, you’ll find all kinds of information on this which utilizes a lot of computer programming and algorithms. It can be an interesting field of work for quantitatively minded people - and nice travel perks!
^^^ Algorithms is probably the word I was looking for when I said macros.
“I find it ludicrous that the price is so much higher now.”
supply and demand economics 101.
The price might drop a week before the flight when they try to sell the rest of the seats available.
The airline prices usually go up the week before the flight, as people flying are either on a business trip or have to fly for some reason and will eat the cost.
^^^
correct it is like poker.
if the seat is empty when the flight goes the airline gets $0.00
so they readjust it if they are still available.