I HATE playing airfare poker

Parent Cafe
1

<p>DH finally found a position 1000 miles away after being downsized a few years ago!). We’re not ready to move everything yet, so I stay here, and we visit whenever possible – watching for airfare specials.</p>

<p>2 weeks ago, as we conferred on dates, we went online to make reservations, and the fare soared $300! OOPS…we just missed the 21 day advance dealine by a few hours. Our fault.</p>

<p>Last week, we called family to double check a different date, different location, and as soon as we heard the ok (within 12 hours), fares soared $180!</p>

<p>Today there was a “next weekend special” alert that I’ve signed up to receive by email. Immediately checked with work, went online to make the reservations within the hour, and voila… still there. ONLY it literally stopped while typing the reservation, and soared $400!!!</p>

<p>It was not meant to be obviously. But it is so frustrating. I know with some airlines you have 24 hours to cancel. Do all airlines have that same cancellation policy? If so, we need to make the reservations as soon as we see them, and THEN check for ok’s from all involved. Or do they “bait and switch” on purpose?</p>

<p>Is there a reason airfares have recently soared? (not necessarily for summer months – this included fall travel as well).</p>

2

<p>Airfares can be different on different days of the week. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are typically less expensive. What sites are you checking? Some have an option for checking fares within 3 days to find the best price. I know United lets you “hold” a fare for something like $8 or $9 for a few days, so you can hold your spot while you work out the rest of the details.</p>

<p>Not all the travel search sites work with the same airlines, so be sure to check the airline website itself, and also Travelocity, Kayak, Expedia, etc.</p>

<p>Since it looks like a lot of flying is in your future, check out flyertalk.com - especially the threads about how to get/use frequent flyer points/miles.</p>

3

<p>It’s so frustrating. I would like it if my D could join us for a long weekend during our family vacation. It’s so expensive. She could go to Los Vegas for the weekend on what it costs to come to Michigan.</p>

4

<p>

</p>

<p>No. Not at all. Be very familiar with the cancellation policy not only for the airline but for the kind of fare you paid. They typically make it expensive to change, so keep that in mind.</p>

5

<p>So learn ALL the rules of the game so you feel in control…
Know when each airline changes their fares like the 21 day rule.
Know the cancellation policies of each airline, credit towards future flights, credit back to the credit card.
Apply for an airline’s name sake credit card if it means you get some benefits.
Are there alternative airports to fly out of?
A DING! city?
Does each member of the family have membership numbers for all the airlines in consideration?
Get that set up ahead of time.
You only have to keep track of 2 cities so check prices everyday/midnight/whenever.
Worth the effort.</p>

6

<p>

</p>

<p>SUPPLY & DEMAND
-Improving economy, so more demand
-Fewer seats, because airline removed a lot of unprofitable excess capacity
-Airlines have gotten very good at yield management. They vary the cost dynamically to balance ticket prices with what the market will bear. </p>

<p>OPERATING COSTS
-High oil prices</p>

<p>

If you buy a full-fare ticket, there are no charges to change or cancel</p>

7

<p>Condolences on your DH working 1,000 miles away. I worked 70 miles away from my DH for two years and spent each week in another state. It is NOT fun, or conducive to a good relationship. I hope you’ll soon be able to move to join him.</p>

8

<p>All (US) airline tickets are fully refundable within 24 hours of purchase. This includes cheaper, highly discounted, “non-refundable” tickets. If you see a good fare, buy it (directly from the airline, rather than a travel website or agent, who may have different cancellation policies). If the fare goes down within 24 hours or your plans change (or you still don’t have confirmation on your date), cancel. It is very simple. The credit goes right back to your card.</p>

9

<p>I travel a couple times domestically and internationally every year and have noticed that some routes certainly increased in price over the years. But it shouldn’t be as drastic as you’ve described unless you are booking peak holiday dates and are unable to adjust your itinerary by 1-to-2 days here and there.</p>

<p>For major airlines, you can generally find the lowest, non-agent rate here - [Matrix</a> - ITA Software](<a href=“http://matrix.itasoftware.com/]Matrix”>http://matrix.itasoftware.com/) . It is simply a search tool and doesn’t facilitate bookings.</p>

10

<p>I checked an airfare on Southwest a few nights ago but in the 10 minutes it took me to compare it to other airfares and decide to book it, it increased by about $40. That increase was enough to make a United flight a better deal so I booked the flight on United. But who knows - that SW fare could have been lower the next day. On that transaction the nod went to United rather than Southwest.</p>

<p>It is indeed frustrating but this is what’s bound to happen as we’re all taking advantage of the lowest fares and those fares are very transparent since with just a few clicks of a mouse we can see what all the competitors are charging. The airlines are playing the margins. I’d rather have them do this, even though it can be frustrating, and get a better deal than have the old days where the airlines charged a fortune.</p>

11

<p>Quoted by GMTplus7:

</p>

<p>Wrong. Just plain wrong. I called to cancel my daughter’s full fare ticket and Jet Blue said they would charge a $150 cancellation fee.</p>

<p>MirabileDictu - I hope you’re right. I know I was able to book a flight through Exoedia and cancel within 24 hours and get a full refund, but that’s because they were the booker, not the airline.</p>

12

<p>Jetblue is a discount carrier. For the major carriers, the priviledge you are buying when you fork out the money for a full fare ticket is: flexibility.</p>

<p>Bottom line is to read the fine print if you need the flexibility.</p>

13

<p>Southwest is also a discount carrier. It it easy peasy to cancel any flight and bank the money to use on future travel on Southwest Airlines. And it doesn’t matter which ticket you buy…you can cancel and bank the money with Southwest to use later.</p>

14

<p>GMTplus7:

According to whom? I would really like to know. Their prices on flights booked within a week of travel are no different than flights on Delta or American. </p>

<p>With Southwest, I’m glad they’re telling you they’re “banking your money”. It sounds like a patronizing way of saying they don’t give refunds. If they’re banking it for you, what’s the interest rate? They’re holding it and you can’t use it. A credit is not the same as a refund.</p>

15

<p>The major carriers are distinguished by a hub-n-spoke system. In industry parlance, the point-to-point carriers were traditionally referred to as “discount carriers”, though many do not seem like such a great discount nowadays. In addition to route structure, point to point carriers are also distinguished by the uniformity of their aircraft size.</p>

<p>In the industry, Southwest & JetBlue are considered point-to-point carriers. However, increasingly, SWA is developing more of a hub structure.</p>

<p>Whatever name you want to use to describe carriers, the bottom line is that if you need the flexibility to cancel, read the fine print.</p>

16

<p>Clear your cookies. They’re tracking you when you look at flights and raise the rates. If you’re in the middle of booking it shouldn’t matter, but if you haven’t locked it in yet and you come back and find it raised, try clearing your cookies or buying from a different computer.</p>

17

<p>

That didn’t happen to me when SW raised the price in 10 minutes. I actually double checked with a completely different browser.</p>

18

<p>On most airlines the same route/flight is offered at a number of different prices. If there are 20 seats in coach, those seats are divided into many different fare classes, many with different rules regarding refundability, length of stay, R/T only, etc. </p>

<p>On United’s website if you are logged in in the expert mode you can see availability in each of these fare “buckets” when you try to book. Here is an example:</p>

<p>F8, A8, JN8, Z6, ZN6, P6, PN8, R2, RN2, IN1, I1, Y9, YN9, B9, M9, E9, U9, H9, HN9, Q9, V9, W9, S9, T9, L9, K9, G2, N0, XN9, X0 </p>

<p>The first few listed are first class fare buckets. Some are specifically frequent flyer reward seats. Everything from Y on down is coach (though Y is an automatic upgrade fare bucket). B has the least restrictions. The further toward the end of the list, the cheaper and more restricted the fares are. The numbers represent the number of seats available to be sold in each bucket. </p>

<p>In the example above, if you request the lowest fare United will show you the price of a G ticket. If someone else buys those last two G seats while you dither, when you book you will be offered a K or L fare, which is likely to be more expensive. Sometimes the difference between buckets is minor ($10-30), but sometimes the jump in price is substantial. The fare didn’t really go up. United did not raise the price in any of the buckets. It simply ran out of seats available in the lowest fare buckets.</p>

<p>This does not mean that United doesn’t raise and lower fares in the different fare buckets. It does, based on demand. Two people on the same flight with tickets in the same fare bucket can pay different prices if they bought their tickets at different times. In most cases, however, when the fare jumps up on you mid transaction, the reason is that the fare bucket you were booking in sold out.</p>

<p>One note of caution. Every airline uses a different set of codes for its various fare buckets. Do not assume that an L ticket on United is the same as an Lticket on another airline.</p>

19

<br>

<br>

<p>It’s Federal law. [New</a> Airline Passenger Protections Take Effect This Week | Department of Transportation](<a href=“http://www.dot.gov/affairs/2012/dot0812.html]New”>New Airline Passenger Protections Take Effect This Week | US Department of Transportation)</p>

<p>“Also beginning this week, passengers will be able to hold a reservation without payment, or cancel a booking without penalty, for 24 hours after the reservation is made, if they make the reservation one week or more prior to a flight’s departure date.”</p>

<p>So don’t let the airline make you think that they’re being incredibly generous for allowing you to do this.</p>

20

<p>Thanks MirabileDictu for posting that information so clearly and helpfully – I did not know that. I don’t fly all that much, and clearly things have changed. Good to know.</p>

<p>From reading your post, it sounds like in my case, I was completely out of luck on both counts – I had booked the flight 2 days before departure, and attempted to cancel the day of departure.</p>