<p>So, I am going to be going to a conference in San Antonio in April (this is a plus because I am from Ohio - San Antonio = warm weather!!!). I have decided to take my 12-year old D and my mom with me. We will likely fly out of Detroit.</p>
<p>Yesterday I was scanning flights, but didn’t book one (still needed to talk to my mom about going). </p>
<p>I am not a big air traveler - maybe book a flight to a conference once a year. Our family does not take trips that involve flying. In other words, not seasoned for booking flights.</p>
<p>Yesterday, there were several non-stops options there and back at good rates - under $300. Today when I go online, I see NO non-stops and all the flights are up around the $350 rate. </p>
<p>What happened? Does it have anything to do with today being a Saturday and they want to charge people more who book on the weekend? Might the rates drop again in the next couple of weeks? Should I be trying a method other than going directly to an airlines website?</p>
<p>So frustrating. I really, really prefer flying non-stop and don’t understand why they disappeared! Yesterday, upon checking seat availability, there appeared to be plenty of seats left as well!</p>
<p>abasket: OMG!! I just got off the phone with Delta; SAME ISSUE; the non-stops that had tons of seats available last night are GONE…something is going on; I checked other dates; same thing; flights gone…</p>
<p>sooo, the idiot at Delta tells me “well I show them all sold out”…um, no, not in less than 12 hours; hundreds of seats…</p>
<p>curious, what airline was this on? something is definitely up…maybe it’s schedule change day???</p>
<p>fwiw, though, I do not ever book a flight on Fri-Mon…not flying, booking…I wait until Tues-Thursday to book…always cheaper…and maybe the non-stops will re-appear…lol</p>
<p>and btw, the flights are gone on Orbitz, Kayak etc as well…</p>
<p>It’s really pretty crazy. Prices fluctuate from day to day. They could well be back down tomorrow–always best to look over several days.</p>
<p>Try several sites. Lately Priceline seems to have the best deals. But there’s also Orbitz, Expedia, Kayak, Sidestep, Travel Zoo and many more. They search multiple airlines and combine airlines if it’s non stop, and almost always have lower prices than buying direct from the airline. For international flights there’s a whole different set added to the mix.</p>
<p>Also go directly to the sites of airlines that don’t participate with the above if they have a base at your airport–Jet Blue, Virgin America, South West for starters.</p>
<p>Look again on Tues and Wed. You will find more open seats for less on those days. Avoid booking on Sat or Sun. You will pay more. The seats are NOT GONE they are just not available. Use Kayak.com to compare rates. It is a great sight. But check again Tues/Wed.</p>
<p>It’s just business strategy. When enough seats have been sold on a flight to make it profitable, they’ll pull the rest of the seats from discount pricing hoping to sell them at higher prices. If/when they don’t, they discount them again.</p>
<p>Delta has the annoying habit of only showing you the multi stop flights. My tip is to go on the [KLM</a> Royal Dutch Airlines Comprehensive Travel Planning Site](<a href=“http://www.klm.com%5DKLM”>http://www.klm.com) website (sister airline of Northwest in Netherlands), finds the flights you want and either book through them or if you feel better call Delta. I just did this and the Delta guy asked how I knew about the direct flights.</p>
<p>I recently booked some flights following the guideline to purchase the tickets on a Tuesday morning and I found this strategy worked well for me.</p>
<p>I had been checking flights for about a week before I actually booked them, and I found the best options seemed to appear magically on Tuesday morning. After i bought my tickets in the morning, the price for the same flights kept going up up incrementally until that evening when they climbed up to at least $150 more than the price I had paid that morning.</p>
<p>What worked for me:
– Use Kayak.
– Check flights over a few days to get a sense of the best prices.
– Check on Tuesday morning and buy the best option you see at that time.
– Use Orbitz because they have a good lowest price guarantee</p>
<p>Oh, and DONT use Spirit. I had horrendous service problems with them and I have since read on Elliottdotorg that they have one of the highest levels of customer complaints.</p>
<p>hmom: last night at midnight, there were 3 seats taken in coach on a flight that seats 120, so that doesn’t make sense in this situation</p>
<p>kajon: I did speak to Delta and told them about the direct flights (and the fact that multiple ones had plenty of seats available at midnight last night)…the women just said, “we are showing all the direct flights as sold out”…mind you, this is for a random Saturday in March…to New Orleans? not during Mardi Gras? from NY area airport? Sooo, I then asked her to check all Saturdays in March…not one seat on a direct flight available…okayyyyyyy</p>
<p>I’ll wait until Tuesday…abasket: I’ll check in with you then!!</p>
<p>Try finding/booking the same flight or route you were looking at on Delta through the Northwest website. Since they have merged NW is becoming more and more Deltoid, but their website still seems to magically find more flights and options than the Delta one, even though they are the same flights. (You can book Delta flights through NW and vice versa).</p>
<p>RE: Delta/Northwest. Something must be wrong w/their system so keep checking. I was just on the site today to book a flight to Philly and all the non-stops have disappeared. We live in a hub city where there are usually a 1/2-dozen daily non-stops and I have never encountered this booking problem. In the meantime, their competitors must be snagging all their business, especially if their agents are so clueless that they’re telling customers the flights are sold out.</p>
<p>rodney, March is the month when most schools have spring break. Students from all around the northeast take trains into NYC and fly out of one of the NYC airports. New Orleans may have become an attractive place for spring break now that Mexico is viewed as too risky.</p>
<p>Tutu: I would agree with you…except that every single non-stop flight has been virtually eliminated from Delta’s site for the entire month of March as of this morning…after being completely available last night…thanks for the heads up though…</p>
<p>^I was trying to book a Feb. weekend so clearly their system is totally messed up right now. Just add it to their long list of problems since taking over NWA.</p>
<p>The first time you go to the website (I have it saved to my favorites), click the option to visit as a guest. It won’t allow you to book through them, but they give the most comprehensive list of flights between cities, from non-stops to many stops. I usually start with them to see who has the best price, and time. Then I go to the airline’s website to book the flight.</p>
<p>I’ve been a travel agent since 1981. So I can say ANYTHING could have happened. It COULD have been as simple as the wrong date or city. But it could also have been that they DID sell out. They don’t offer very many cheap seats. So only a few seats being sold CAN mean a skyrocketing price. Don’t think $25…think hundreds. They do manage their yield VERY carefully. I’ve watched availability disappear in front of me when I’m quoting someone (so I now HOLD the seat temporarily while we talk about it). I’ve watched entire fare codes disappear too. It’s a crazy business. March travel ANYWHERE is going to be very limited this late. I used to have people on my lists that were waiting for THE first day they could book a flight during heavy travel times. That’s ABOUT 11 months in advance for most airlines. And they’d book THAT day. Also, know that any connecting flight is not just serving you from your city to the destination. It’s also anyone on whose itinerary is EITHER of those flights. So…it may seem odd not to have availability on a flight from Ohio to Nebraska through Atlanta. But it might be that the problem is that all the Ohio Spring breakers are going from Ohio to Atlanta…and then on Flordia. So, with THAT flight gone…YOUR flight on to Nebrask is more expensive. There is just so much detail it’s hard to explain. I’m not at work or I would check this for you ( have access too nearly all airlines in one fell swoop). Know this…Delta and Northwest are “MERGING”. So their flights/schedules/systems WILL be in flux right now! You know what I’m going to suggest…call a travel agent. But a place that’s been in business awhile and isn’t hiring 20 year olds. You’ll probably pay a fee as they earn ZERO commission to sell you this ticket. And, since most individual/leisure travelers have gone to the Internet for this type thing…they’re not as happy getting your business ONLY when things get tough. You can also try places like Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz. Be VERY careful doing this yourself. One of the MANY errors I see a lot are wrong dates (not realizing you’ve scanned through schedules to the point where you get to another date), and OVERNIGHT layover connections. No human involvement so the computer makes the connection. You ask to list by “cheapest”, computer does…and you don’t notice you have a 24 hour layover somewhere. Good luck.</p>