Yeah I've had the price change in between the time I started filling in my credit card information and when I finished. Clicking continue gives me an "oops that fare is no longer available, it's actually $100 more". What bs

Huh. I just bought two $40 tickets from Alaska Airlines. There were plenty available.
My one experience of course means that the entire article is always false in every circumstance.

//That's how it works, right?

Cheap Flights - Fascinating Aida (new window, some NSFW language)

tortilla burger: Yeah I've had the price change in between the time I started filling in my credit card information and when I finished. Clicking continue gives me an "oops that fare is no longer available, it's actually $100 more". What bs

Didn't ticketmaster do something like that? It changed to a lock-in price for x-amount of minutes with no pausing. That still sucks as I've had times where on a whim I went to purchase something and found I had 3 minutes to buy it. Trying to find my wallet that my toddler decided to hide, etc, etc - and crappo, price went up.

At that point I decide it's not worth it to do another transaction.

Headline mentions "confessions" like these guys wake up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed every morning looking forward to a day of merciless price gouging and profiteering.

Article discusses dry economics.

I just saved you a few minutes. You're welcome.

i'll save you all one to three minutes depending on your current level of distractedness and the speed at which you read words:

-the price you pay for your flight is based on mostly on elements that are out of your control.
-at the end there is a weak-ass attempt to 'explain' (justify) why FF reward programs are such a sham.

=|

ok, think that'll do it. i guess i'll see you all around later.

It would be interesting to hear his confessions after he no longer works for the airline industry.

FTFA - "Plus, fares are so dynamic since they are based on market conditions and the actual number of passengers who are currently booked on a specific flight that they can change rapidly at any time."

You get this excuse all the time. It's not me, it's THE MARKET that's forcing the prices to be higher. THE MARKET forced our prices up. Prices are completely out of our control. THE MARKET made me do it. I didn't want to bend you over the check-in desk THE MARKET did.

JJD: Interesting read. Never would've expected Saturday to be one of the cheaper days to fly, but I guess it makes sense.

I learned that when I started taking yearly ski trips, it was always cheaper to fly on a Saturday Afternoon, the trick was finding a cheap hotel for Saturday night since the Condo rental always started on a Sunday. One year we couldn't find one but we were skiing in Reno so we just stayed up all night in the Casino and tried to check in at 8 AM it did actually work.

JJD: Interesting read. Never would've expected Saturday to be one of the cheaper days to fly, but I guess it makes sense.

Yep. Convenient too, since nobody is flying. Christmas eve and New Years eve are great as well. I've done that the last couple years (and will be again this year), and the airports are farking ghost towns. Last year at DIA I saw two people going through main security (TSA outnumbered the travelers by a long shot) and there was maybe a dozen people going through the bridge security. Awesome.

Tom_Slick: JJD: Interesting read. Never would've expected Saturday to be one of the cheaper days to fly, but I guess it makes sense.

I learned that when I started taking yearly ski trips, it was always cheaper to fly on a Saturday Afternoon, the trick was finding a cheap hotel for Saturday night since the Condo rental always started on a Sunday. One year we couldn't find one but we were skiing in Reno so we just stayed up all night in the Casino and tried to check in at 8 AM it did actually work.

How much did you lose at the Casino?

And for all of that, airlines STILL don't make appreciable profits. It's a crap business, in which lead times on aircraft orders and the like keep them a solid three years behind the economy. Always.

To quote Sir Branson: "If you want to be a Millionaire, start with a billion dollars and launch a new airline."

/future airline pilot

stevetherobot: How much did you lose at the Casino?

No more than I would have lost if we had checked in to a hotel to begin with. We had a system for Reno Ski Trips, Check into hotel, go to the Cal-Neva for $1.99 ham and eggs, get piss drunk playing craps, then head to Rail City in Sparks for their midnight penny poker tournament, about 4 am get steak and eggs at the Silver Club coffee shop then go back to the room, that night we just played 25 cent roulette at the silver club before we went to the Thunderbird condos in Sparks.

HumanBeingsSuck: Headline mentions "confessions" like these guys wake up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed every morning looking forward to a day of merciless price gouging and profiteering.

Article discusses dry economics.

I just saved you a few minutes. You're welcome.

Pretty much. And no real answers.
Apparently "its more complicated than that."

If you stay in a business-oriented hotel, the hotel rates are cheaper on weekend nights also so Saturday travel can be very cheap. The day after Thanksgiving is also pretty good day to fly. I guess everyone is still in a Turkey coma.

I'm stuck on the day after Christmas this year and I'm sure it will be a nightmare, especially since the airline (American) cancelled one of my two return flights and rebooked me so I have a four hour layover in O'Hare. Compact Travel Mom complained like crazy when I said I was leaving on Christmas, though. Being a good daughter is expensive/involves hordes of once-a-year travelers.

/CSB
//$750 tickets & $400 in hotel costs and "Why don't you visit more often and stay longer, you can afford it"
///bitter, sorry

1000 Ways to Dye: Huh. I just bought two $40 tickets from Alaska Airlines. There were plenty available.
My one experience of course means that the entire article is always false in every circumstance.

//That's how it works, right?

The whole thing boils down to "less desirable flights and airlines are more consistently cheap and available", so I think you experience actually confirms it.

Regas: Cheap Flights - Fascinating Aida (new window, some NSFW language)

Damned funny. Thanks.

"You must be *this* tall to ride this plane."

The airline business seems to be nothing more than a shell game anymore. Case in point I was just looking at flights the other day - from the two home airports I frequent I found that one was several hundred dollars cheaper to my destination than the other. Nothing particularly odd there until upon closer inspection I noticed the cheaper flight actually stopped at the other airport and I would switch to the same flight that was more expensive by itself. Same airline, same date, same flight, but you add an additional leg and start from a different airport and it suddenly becomes several hundred dollars cheaper. How this works I have no idea but this is the game the airlines play.

downstairs: ElBarto79: The airline business seems to be nothing more than a shell game anymore. Case in point I was just looking at flights the other day - from the two home airports I frequent I found that one was several hundred dollars cheaper to my destination than the other. Nothing particularly odd there until upon closer inspection I noticed the cheaper flight actually stopped at the other airport and I would switch to the same flight that was more expensive by itself. Same airline, same date, same flight, but you add an additional leg and start from a different airport and it suddenly becomes several hundred dollars cheaper. How this works I have no idea but this is the game the airlines play.

I'm confused, if you stop at another airport... how do you board the flight that was non-stop and more expensive? If its non-stop, its not stopping.

Right...it's non-stop from that airport.

Philadelphia to Detroit - something like 800 dollars
Harrisburg to Philadelphia to Detroit - something like 500 dollars

The Philadelphia to Detroit leg is the same for both flights, same date, same everything. Why is it cheaper if I start in Harrisburg and then fly to Philly? It makes no sense. I suppose they want you to pay for the convenience of a nonstop flight but their pricing seems way out of whack.

tortilla burger: Yeah I've had the price change in between the time I started filling in my credit card information and when I finished. Clicking continue gives me an "oops that fare is no longer available, it's actually $100 more". What bs

Sounds as if you were gazumped.

I had a former employee go to work for a travel agency (anyone remember those?). One time he showed me a diagram of a plane with a fare attached to each seat. It didn't meant that you'd be in one of those seats if you paid that particular fare, but it was good visual to show how many of each fare were available. Often, there were two to four of the cheapest tickets/per plane.

Flew on Thanksgiving Day this year thinking it would be deserted. The farking flight was jammed with all these other shiatheads and every seat was full. It turns out the sons of biatches at the airlines canceled 3 of the 5 flights that they normally run and crammed the 2 remaining flights full and overbooked the 2 remaining flights. So the airlines essentially butt farked us all and the rates weren't that good.

The airlines have no competition and there is nothing anyone who doesn't own a private can do except stay home and boycott.

Noticeably F.A.T.: JJD: Interesting read. Never would've expected Saturday to be one of the cheaper days to fly, but I guess it makes sense.

Yep. Convenient too, since nobody is flying. Christmas eve and New Years eve are great as well. I've done that the last couple years (and will be again this year), and the airports are farking ghost towns. Last year at DIA I saw two people going through main security (TSA outnumbered the travelers by a long shot) and there was maybe a dozen people going through the bridge security. Awesome.

Does this up your chances of being messed with by TSA?

InOmnibusCaritas: Hey, I'm flying out of DIA on Christmas Eve this year... maybe I'll see you there!

Quite possibly, I suppose.

Medic Zero: Does this up your chances of being messed with by TSA?

Doesn't seem to.

ElBarto79: downstairs: ElBarto79: The airline business seems to be nothing more than a shell game anymore. Case in point I was just looking at flights the other day - from the two home airports I frequent I found that one was several hundred dollars cheaper to my destination than the other. Nothing particularly odd there until upon closer inspection I noticed the cheaper flight actually stopped at the other airport and I would switch to the same flight that was more expensive by itself. Same airline, same date, same flight, but you add an additional leg and start from a different airport and it suddenly becomes several hundred dollars cheaper. How this works I have no idea but this is the game the airlines play.

Yeah, I have the same thing happen... I fly from San Francisco to Boston on a regular basis. The direct SFO->BOS flight might be $800, but if I leave from Sacramento, fly to SFO, and catch the same flight to BOS after a 3-4 hour layover, the ticket might be $500. Bastards. They won't let me just catch the outbound flight at SFO, but on the way back I'll just not show up for the last SFO->SMF leg.