Kicking myslelf

[Kelmn07]

I finally found the perfect flight today for my bos-vce, fco-bos flights, good layover times (flight home was non stop) etc for $1,100. Wanted to discuss with the other couple we'll be travelling with and two hours later the same flight is now $1,294! :mad:

 

Lesson learned, and I already told the other couple if I see it again at the price, I'm not thinking twice. I still don't understand how the rationale of staggering prices from one hour to the next, but oh well. Also, I'm a bit of a conspiracy theorist when it comes to looking for travel-I'm clearing my cookies before I check again, I am a little suspicious that companies raise prices when they notice someone is eyeing it. :o

[6rugrats]

There are only so many seats available in each fare bucket. Once they are sold, you are kicked up into the next one, at a higher price. You are not the only person purchasing tickets for your routing. There is no one at the airline noticing what you are looking at.

 

Next time, book the flight you want, and let the other people worry about themselves. If you aren't ready to buy, keep watching. Prices may drop again.

[FlyerTalker]

One other item to remember: If you are booking for a number greater than one, there must be inventory for ALL seats needed in the same bucket; otherwise, you get bumped to the next bucket up that has room to ticket all in the party.

 

Example....you have 4 people traveling, but there are only three seats in the bucket for a $400 price. The next higher bucket is for $600 per person. The computer system will not take 3 from bucket "A" and one from "B", but rather then entire batch from "B". Total price = $2400. OTOH, if you bought four separate tickets, or 3 on one ticket and one on the other, you would have a total cost of $1800.

 

What may have happened is that there were 4 or more seats in your bucket, then someone bought some to lower the number below 4. Buying four bumped you up. Did you try pricing for a smaller number than 4??

 

Moral: Everyone buys their own tickets. Meet at destination. (And even then, buy tickets strategically - sometimes individually) Otherwise, you risk paying higher prices. And do you REALLY have to be on the same flight?

[Kelmn07]

There is no one at the airline noticing what you are looking at.

 

I don't actually think that someone is physically sitting there and monitoring, but I do believe that they have computers that run algorithms non stop, that track IPs etc, which could easily change the prices based on the level of searches.

 

As an example, even though I am not logged into my Orbitz account when I search for flights, I get emails for 'sales' on flights that I searched for, with the dates I searched.

[Kelmn07]

Flyertalker-good point about how the # of tickets I am searching for could vary my results, I hadn't really thought about that. And I agree, to me it doesn't really matter if we all fly together.