<p>Last night we purchased an airline ticket for S#1 to join us at S#2’s graduation in a few weeks, not cheap, but not unreasonable for the route. This morning, 12 hours later, S says his gf can come and wants to book the same flights. Great news as we were hoping to have her come visit this summer. She goes online to book her ticket and the fare is now… +$350 from last night! AAARGH!!!</p>
<p>Don’t hesitate to call the airlines! When price dropped on S’s ticket, JetBlue offered me a credit. Its worth the time to talk to a real person.</p>
<p>^^ Identical experience here. Checked flights – “Oh, that’s a good price!” But when I tried to book the price went up 50%! I checked other travel sites, and then returned to the original site … where the price had gone up ANOTHER 25%. All this in a half hour!</p>
<p>It’s so absolutely annoying, unreasonable and it just doesn’t make sense how a seat price can increase so dramatically in the time it takes me to check with a family member about a flight time, come back to book and find a 60% + increase. How does that happen? How do they justify this?</p>
<p>For me, buying an airline ticket has become a two week-long project. I research, watch the fares, think of all the options (nearby airports, tweaked dates) and then pounce when I find something bearable. It is an incredibly stupid waste of time. Even Southwest, which I am fond of for it’s low prices, one way fares, and reasonable exchange policy, and which flies out of two airports near me, recently had tickets for $38 from one airport and $68 from the other to the same destination at the same time. Why??</p>
<p>I have had the experience of the fare being low, going up, and then coming down again.</p>
<p>How far out are you booking?</p>
<p>And can anyone explain any of this? is there a logic, or is it (as it feels) totally random?</p>
<p>It just happened AGAIN! This morning Hartford to New Orleans RT was listed for $217 but could only be booked at $370. I just checked again this afternoon and the cheapest price listed is now $702 !!! There must be a random number generator run amok somewhere in the system.</p>
<p>A friend told me that she thinks that with the “cookies” a computer generates when you visit a web site, that the airline computers know if you have been searching a fare repeatedly and they are automatically increased after you look a couple of times! She may have made up this explanation, but it sure sounds plausible to me!</p>
<p>Guys, wait until tomorrow and Wednesday to freak out…all fares are bumped up on Mondays, only to drop on Tuesdays and Wednesdays…if you’re awake 12 midnight tonight on the east coast (NewHope), you can try then…if not, early am tomorrow should do the trick, especially if it’s Continental. Let me know if it works…gl</p>
<p>Yes, I’ve been told that Tuesday is the best day to buy a ticket. They are generally lower than the weekend fares. Buying tickets online require time and patience. I’ve had prices “no longer available” as soon as I finished filling out the credit card information. Very aggravating</p>
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<p>So this means that buying a ticket on Tuesday is better than buying on some other day? Are there days of the week that are cheaper to fly on?</p>
<p>I’ve had the experience of trying to book online and having the price jump in the middle of the process. I called the airline and spoke to customer service and they honored the first price for me. Worth a try.</p>
<p>“So this means that buying a ticket on Tuesday is better than buying on some other day? Are there days of the week that are cheaper to fly on?”</p>
<p>yes, and yes…buying midweek and flying midweek is the best combo…either one is better than booking on the weekend and flying on the weekend…</p>
<p>Hey, this is so timely! I’m just about to book D’s flight home from her first year at college. I’ll wait til tomorrow. Thanks!</p>
<p>It is (or was) much cheaper to fly on Tuesday or Wednesday, I have booked most week long vacation for Tues - Tues to reduce the cost of the flight. And I also book on Tuesday or Wednesday.</p>
<p>I have had the experience of clearing my cookies, then finding a different price on the same airfare ticketing website. Now I always clear the cookies before going back to a site to search for a new fare (also search for the same flight on different sites, the price can vary!). I just keep several windows open at once while I do that.</p>
<p>While we are on this topic, if you book a rental car OR hotel (assuming you aren’t paying for the room on the spot), go back every couple of weeks to check the rate. If you find a better rate, just book the new one and cancel the old reservation. I have knocked about $300 off the price of a planned vacation this upcoming October through this process. Saved $150 on a weekend in Chicago last summer by doing it, too (hotel prices for 4th of July weekend dropped almost $100 per night about a month before we went!). Again, I clear cookies before doing this (just in case they are watching 
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<p>A couple of years ago I booked a trip for three of us well in advance to get the “best” fare. Six weeks before we left I booked a fourth passenger ( daughter’s friend) on the same flights and her flights were cheaper than ours!! That really ticked me off.</p>
<p>If I see a good price now I try to book quickly because I have had that sad experience of waiting a short time and seeing the fare nearly double.</p>
<p>My 3 are spread out all across the country including Hawaii, and I fell like booking travel has become my full-time job! You research, watch, compare, find what you want, type as fast as you can and sometimes there just is no rhyme or reason to what happens to the fare. It can be very frustrating.</p>
<p>This travel to graduation includes 7 people leaving from 4 different states (multi airports available at 2) and traveling to college city which also has multi airport availability. I book a lot of airline tickets and feel like I know the ropes, but this is exhausting! I had it all together until we tried to add just one more but I’m not ready to throw in the towel yet. Off to clear my cookies.:)</p>
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<p>Sounds like my family over the holidays. My Grandparents host Christmas every year at their house on the west coast and I sometimes get the pleasure of coordinating the travel for 50+ family members and friends from all over the world. Multiple hotels, airlines, times and dates, car service reservations, etc. Like you said, it is exhausting!</p>
<p>Does anybody use travel agents anymore? At my last job we used one and they were terrific. Don’t they get better fares??</p>