Please Help

Hi all,

Is there a site or a way to book airline tickets that will allow you to purchase a ticket and then adjust if (by some miracle) the price comes down before departure?

Thanks :)

Only if you purchase a refundable (usually full fare ticket) in the first place. All of the cheaper tickets have restrictions and price adjustments are not a normal part of the business.

The closest I can think of is Southwest Airlines, who will allow you to re-book if you find a lower fare, but you do not get the extra money back, it is issued in the form of credit to be used on a future flight within one year of your original booking date.

Sure, just buy a full fare ticket. The cost is fully refundable. If the fare drops, cancel the original and book at the new low price. Unfortunately, the full fare ticket is a lot more expensive than a discount ticket.

Paul and Cheryl thank you so much for answering and answering so quickly. That helps a lot!:D

Paul and Cheryl thank you so much for answering and answering so quickly. That helps a lot!:D

Didn't you book the $307.00 AirTran tickets???? I would highly DOUBT that the price would drop. That is a dynamite price!!!!!

cherylandtk and paul929207 have given you the standard answer to your question but there is a new wrinkle to consider. Orbitz has recently announced the "Price Assurance" Program that apparently states that if you buy a ticket through them (and I assume this applies to nonrefundable tickets) and the price goes down and some other customer buys that same ticket at a lower fare they will refund to you the difference. Note that a fare may go down, but if nobody else buys it through them, then you do not qualify for a refund. (To help one ascertain the odds of this, I suspect it would be nice to know what percentage of passengers on a given flight bought their ticket through Orbitz.) Also, I don't know if this Program applies to each leg of a trip or for the itinerary as a whole. Anyway, it's "food for thought" in terms of whether one has a reasonable probability of recouping the fees that they charge.

The full T&C for the Orbitz Price Assurance:

Full terms and conditions

 

1. Orbitz Price AssuranceSM is available to any customer who makes a qualifying airfare booking through the Orbitz.com Web site. Qualifying booking must occur on Orbitz.com on/after June 6th, 2008.
   
2. Orbitz Price Assurance applies only to airline tickets booked on Orbitz.com, and only for tickets booked using a valid credit card with a United States billing address.
   
3. Orbitz Price Assurance applies only to the total airfare (base plus taxes plus government fees plus airline imposed fuel and other surcharges) and does not apply to differences based on service, booking, processing, shipping, paper-ticket and other fees and other charges not collected on the airline ticket.
   
4. If Orbitz finds, after you have booked your flight, that another Orbitz customer has booked the same flight(s), meaning the same dates/times of travel, on the same airline, with the same flight numbers, for the same passenger type, itinerary, cabin, and subject to the same fare refundability, or other restrictions, that is at least $5 lower than the airfare you booked on Orbitz.com, Orbitz will refund you the difference up to a maximum of $250.00 per ticket.
   
5. The confirmed airfare and itinerary you booked on Orbitz.com will be compared to the same itinerary on Orbitz.com for drops in fare up until the day you fly. Fares are compared with like fare restrictions, so for example, if an unrestricted airfare is booked on Orbitz.com, it will not qualify for the Orbitz Price Assurance if compared to a restricted airfare found on the Orbitz Web site.
   
6. Orbitz Price Assurance does not apply to lower airfares that are available on other Web sites, flights you cancel, or to refundable tickets that you choose to refund.
   
7. If your qualifying flight booked on Orbitz.com is for a refundable ticket and you later refund the ticket, prior to completing all travel, any refund you may be eligible to receive in connection with Orbitz Price Assurance will become void and invalid. If your qualifying flight is canceled by you after booking, your claim or any potential refund will not be valid or issued.
   
8. If the airline refunds your flight Orbitz Price Assurance will not apply.
   
9. Orbitz Price Assurance does not apply to airfare rates that are not available to the general public. Rates not available to the general public include, but are not limited to, corporate discount airfares, private fares, government fares, military fares, meeting fares, wholesaler fares or consolidator fares (excluding webfares).
   
10. Fare decreases resulting from changes to an air carrier's fare filing policies or practices will not be eligible for Orbitz Price Assurance.
    
11. Orbitz Price Assurance is for individual flights booked on Orbitz.com and does not apply to package fares, such as airfares sold as part of a travel package.
    
12. Orbitz Price Assurance does not apply to total airfares booked on Orbitz.com that have been reduced as a result of promotional discounts, such as dollars off coupons, loyalty program discounts or fly free offers.
    
13. Orbitz reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to deny any claims that are suspected or deemed fraudulent.
    
14. Orbitz reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to modify, suspend, or terminate Orbitz Price Assurance for airfares booked on any air carrier which files for or becomes the subject of any bankruptcy proceeding, or becomes part of, or subject to a merger, acquisition, or other change in entity status.
    
15. Orbitz Price Assurance will not apply in the event of natural catastrophes, acts of terrorism, third party errors, technical failures, software or system malfunctions, governmental acts, transportation stoppages or slowdowns, or other events beyond its control.

Refund Processing

 

Following qualification for a refund, the Orbitz Customer Service Team will notify you via e-mail.

1. Upon verification that another Orbitz customer has booked your same flight on Orbitz.com for a lower airfare, Orbitz will send you an e-mail notice to the e-mail address listed under "My Account" on the Orbitz.com site, which will include the amount of the refund you may receive.
   
2. One refund will be issued per each qualifying reservation. You will continue to receive e-mail notices from Orbitz up until the day you take your qualifying flight, if the fare for your flight continues to drop and another Orbitz customer books at the lower fare.
   
3. You can expect to receive your check refund in the mail, at the billing address listed under "my account", within 3-4 weeks after you complete all of the flights in a qualifying itinerary.
   
4. The refund will only be issued to the Orbitz member account under which the qualifying airfare booking was made, and the refund will be sent to the corresponding billing address on file.
   
5. The check refund is the sole and exclusive compensation that will be provided to you for Orbitz Price Assurance.
   
6. All check refunds issued pursuant to Orbitz Price Assurance must be cashed within 90 days of the issuance date on the check; after 91 days the issued check is expired and void.

Void where prohibited by law. Orbitz reserves the right to modify or cancel Orbitz Price Assurance at any time without prior notice. Any modification will be effective upon posting of modified Orbitz Price Assurance Terms and Conditions on the Orbitz.com web site. Any cancellation will be effective upon removal of references to the Orbitz Price Assurance Program and the Orbitz Price Assurance Terms and Conditions from the Orbitz.com web site. If the Orbitz Price Assurance Program is canceled for any reason, the refund issued will continue to be valid until the expiration date on the refund check.

 

In other words, don't go expecting "free money" or even a great deal.

Didn't you book the $307.00 AirTran tickets???? I would highly DOUBT that the price would drop. That is a dynamite price!!!!!

I was just wondering if there was a site to book it on that if the price did go down, I could get it, but from the sound of your post, I'd better jump on it regardless. :)

cherylandtk and paul929207 have given you the standard answer to your question but there is a new wrinkle to consider. Orbitz has recently announced the "Price Assurance" Program that apparently states that if you buy a ticket through them (and I assume this applies to nonrefundable tickets) and the price goes down and some other customer buys that same ticket at a lower fare they will refund to you the difference. Note that a fare may go down, but if nobody else buys it through them, then you do not qualify for a refund. (To help one ascertain the odds of this, I suspect it would be nice to know what percentage of passengers on a given flight bought their ticket through Orbitz.) Also, I don't know if this Program applies to each leg of a trip or for the itinerary as a whole. Anyway, it's "food for thought" in terms of whether one has a reasonable probability of recouping the fees that they charge.

Wow,that's exactly what I was talking about! I'll look into that and book the itenerary that Greatam gave me. THANKS!!

To help one ascertain the odds of this, I suspect it would be nice to know what percentage of passengers on a given flight bought their ticket through Orbitz

Here is a real rough approximation for this number. In 2007, Orbitz (along with their sister company CheapTickets) had gross domestic air bookings of $7,111 million. The average domestic air fare for the first quarter of 2008 was $415 (which includes Southwest Airlines). This implies that Orbitz (and CheapTickets) sold roughly 17 million tickets. In 2007, the total number of revenue passengers, less WN, was about 500 million. If Orbitz alone sells about 60% of the tickets between Orbitz and CheapTickets combined (based on web traffic alone), this implies that about 2% of the individuals on a domestic plane (assuming all sorts of regularity here) bought their ticket through Orbitz. Assuming further, that 50% of the people buy tickets before you and 50% buy tickets after you, then one has less than a 1% chance of recouping a fare decrease if such a fare decrease were to occur given that some folks are flying coach and some first/business class. Other restrictions would lower this percentage further. Note that this is Ballpark.

When I first heard this advertisement on T.V., I immediately figured that the odds of qualifying for this cleverly disguised guarantee were tremendously against receiving a refund on a discounted fare. The odds are so in their favor that I wouldn't purchase from them just for spite.

When the Bureau of Transportation Statistics reports airfare paid, for some folks this represents a one-way trip and for others it represents a round trip. (In addition, some unknown number of high fare outliers are discarded when this number is reported by BTS.) Consequently, if "average airfare paid" was calculated only on a one-way basis to be consistent with one way passengers, the average fare paid reported in an earlier post would be less. Thus, the number of tickets sold by Orbitz would be higher. Still, as a ballpark, the results would be essentially the same as noted by ginagirl.