Airfare NIGHTMARE!!!!

[moet7]

Hi!

I can't believe how much airfare goes up and down. It is like the stock market!!!

I finally decided what days I want to fly down before the cruise and what day to fly out after.

I then start looking at airfare. Well it started at 263.00 then it went to 240.00. then back to 263.00 so I figure maybe it will go back, NO!!! it went up to 363.00!!!

In fact it was 363.00 yesterday afternoon and then at 11:00 p.m. last night it went to 263.00 again. So of course I am kicking myself that I just didn't book it last night, because first thing this morning it was back at 363.00!!!

So I am hoping tonight it will come back down again, I know wishful thinking!!!

I just don't understand what the deal is with the airfares jumping around so much.

It's not like I am waiting til the last minute to book, I don't cruise until June.

Anyone have any insight on why it jumps hour to hour???

I have my hotel before the cruise booked and my hotel after the cruise booked. Just need the airfare and I am set!

Thanks for listening!!

 

[mommasita]

Well, having worked in the Airline industry, I do know that it is supply and demand..However, a 100$ jump up and down in a day is bizarre, very bizaree. Have you checked out southwest? They have a ding feature you download, and it actually dings you when airfaires from your city become available. I love this feature, and some are very very time limited, some in the middle of the night, and some are just too good to pass up...

I would call the airline to get an answer..The more I think, the more it confuses me, because I am sure that enough people don't cancel daily to boost the supply and demand, and then drop it...

Oh well, sorry no better answer..

 

[windermerejudy]

I know many airlines have a hold option--usually 24 hours or so. They also have so many tickets at say $200, so many at 225, 250 , ....If there was a hold on the last of a price range then it would automatically quote you the next available price level. When the 24 hour period expires which i know I have been told MN Eastern time before, those lower priced options would reopen if not paid for. Did I explain that well? I know I have seen big differences in the major sites such as Yahoo, Expedia, or the direct site for example AA, Make sure al of them have added the taxes and airport fees or else you are comparing apples and oranges.

 

[disneybride96]

My problem has been booking to early. We worried about flying Thanksgiving weekend, so we booked about 5 months out. If we had waited a couple of months we would have saved about $40 per ticket. Oh well - paid for peace of mind I guess.

 

[tynkerbell]

Same thing happened to me. I've been watching the airfare for our flight and it was bouncing up and down. I had to book with my best friend so on thursday night we agreed we'd book the flights the following day. Well the next day the prices jumped $50. She wanted to wait to see if the price would drop again but I told her that's a gamble and we went ahead and booked. Good thing too, since today they went up another $50.

Our cruise is in June also, so we're certainly booking far in advance.

 

[alwayslisad]

wwoww I guess I am totally lucky today

booked 6 flights from boston to mco for 187.00 each round trip
booked 5 flights from Dulles to mco for 192.00 each round trip.....




how soon are you flying out?

my cruise is not till 12/2

 

[Jsme]

Yeah airfare kills me too. You have to just go ahead and book it and not look back so if it does go cheapier you will not be upset. This is my policy.

 

[moet7]

I know many airlines have a hold option--usually 24 hours or so. They also have so many tickets at say $200, so many at 225, 250 , ....If there was a hold on the last of a price range then it would automatically quote you the next available price level. When the 24 hour period expires which i know I have been told MN Eastern time before, those lower priced options would reopen if not paid for. Did I explain that well? I know I have seen big differences in the major sites such as Yahoo, Expedia, or the direct site for example AA, Make sure al of them have added the taxes and airport fees or else you are comparing apples and oranges.

WOW, this makes sense to me as to why "maybe" the rates have been jumping around, I plan to stay up tonight and see if the fare drops. If not, I will have to leave later in the day than I wanted and add the extra days we want to stay in FL at the end of the cruise to get a better airfare price.

Thanks everyone for your replys. I will let you know what happens!

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

OP, I understand what you're saying-kinda went thru that recently too! I looked everywhere, even airline websites/etc. and tried to find the cheapest price for the exact dates/times we wanted (and nonstop). I finally found a few with the date/times we wanted and I DELAYED just one day too long... because the next day all but ONE of those choices went up sky high in price- I jumped at grabbing the only one left and booked it/paid... and the next morning the prices were back down again and all the dates/times available again. *sigh* It's like gambling and I'm no good at gambling.. you can keep on going and wait for it to go down, only to have it go higher... you can try to get in on it before it raises- and it ends up going cheaper.


We ended up paying $296 per ticket... it was as high as $395 at one point (for the flights we could use for our date/time preference- if we REALLY got what we wanted which is midday flight back after the cruise it was upwards of $700 each! So we had to get an evening flight out) -- and now after we paid that it's back down to $232 per ticket. Can't win for losing. LOL

I sure hope you are able to get a good price... I'm feeling your pain about the bouncing prices and never really knowing if you should go ahead and buy... or gamble and take the risk that it will go higher- just for a chance that it might go lower.

 

[rsjj]

here's what i did...searched well in advance what the prices would be around. and looked daily, or every other day, to see the jumps, both up & down. i did this for maybe 2 months? (and our cruise wasn't till maybe several months after that) and when i saw that it was the lowest i'd pay (on the average from all the prices i've seen, w/the same flight/date/time/etc.), i just booked it. and NEVER looked at it again! i'd hate to see that it went down. i just knew that i got the best price (in my heart!). so that was that!

it is a gamble! we all want the best prices available! but if you don't look back, like someone mentioned...you wouldn't know!! why torture yourself?

 

[moet7]

Well I waited until after midnight and the rates didn't go back down like they did last night.

But the good news is that instead of paying 600.00 more, I will only have to pay 60.00 more than if I booked last night.

However I won't get to spend the day on Cocoa Beach the day before the Cruise like I had hoped, since the early morning flight went up by 100.00.

Thankfuly the midafternoon flight only went up by 10.00, times that by the 6 of us and it's only 60.00 more.

I also have to stay another night after the cruise at Disney World, (boy won't that be hard to handle!!! ) in order to get a night flight at a good price.

So in the long run, yes I am paying 60.00 more, but I will be staying another night at the Happiest Place on Earth!!

My husband said, he would rather pay for another night in a hotel at Disney than have to fly home a day early at an expensive fare rate. This way we get another day at Disney for not much more money.

Can't wait to start looking into what I want to do excursion wise on the cruise.

Thanks for listening and understand!!!

 

[PBader]

We usually fly with delta and there have been times that our airfare has gone down. They have given us travel vouchers for the difference in fare that are good for a year. I always check periodically to see if there has been a big price difference.

Paula

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

rsjj.. that's good advice to not look again. It really is! If only I had the willpower to not look again. Glutton for punishment I guess... or just really nosey... or both LOL


We used to always fly Delta... and never seemed to have problems with rates bouncing all over the place. Unfortunately they've basically pulled out of DFW airport completely and there are very few flights (if any) on Delta out of- or into DFW airport. The only ones that showed for our trip was Delta flying chataqua airlines or something like that it said- and it was the tiniest airplane when I looked at the seating available.. only 3 seats taken so far and only about 25 seats on the whole plane! Kinda freaky... sounds like Delta is just doing ticketing but not actually flying THEIR planes in/out of DFW. We'll miss them.... they always seemed to have the best times day or night for our flights out of DFW and back to DFW- for us anyway. We're making do with what AA has available... mostly just early morning flights out, late flights in- unless you want to pay $700 for coach to get midday flights! ack!

 

[ebaycruiser]

We always fly Southwest and last year we booked and then the price went down and we called Southwest for a credit. I will be using this $110 credit this year to book my Disney Wonder cruise. You have up to a year to use the credit. I am now checking fares EVERY DAY and waiting for "cheap" fares. I have flown to Orlando from Nashville for $49. (each way).

 

[vfb2girls]

I am always so jealous when I hear about all the great rates that everyone gets on their airline tickets, we live in an area that has limited airline service so for just myself and husband to fly to MCO this year for our Orlando trip it was 850.00, yes that is for only two tickets. In fact I booked this arifare way back in May and it has now gone up another 50.00 a ticket. So if we could find airfare for under 400.00 I would be thrilled.

 

[Echo queen]

I have been checking the airfare for my May cruise since about October of last year. From Austin TX to MCO has been about $370 we need 4 tickets. After finalizing some of our other criue plans last week, I checked again. $270 on Delta nonstop. I waisted no time booking and we managed to get one ticket free using a travel points system that we have. I was very pleased with this out come because I had $1300 bugeted for airfare.

 

[jerseyjanie]

I had the same problem and basically drove myself nuts checking the airfares every few days, then every few hours, waiting for the fares to go down when they only continued to go up. I checked on-line one morning and was ready to make the purchase but I didn't have my credit card with me so that afternoon I was ready to book and the fare had gone up over $50 per ticket. I called the airline (Continental) and they confirmed the higher price and I explained the situation and much to my surprise the ticket agent said "well, the best fare I can give you is $***" (I don't remember exactly right now, but it was the lower price from the morning). I immediately put them on 24-hour hold (to give me one more day to see if they'd come down again). They did not come down but at least they didn't go up anymore and I purchased them. I've never had a ticket agent offer me a lower price than what they told me - all I can think is that the fares may have just gone up moments prior to my call (either that or he could hear the frustration in my voice). So, it may pay to make a phone call to the airline. I always call and compare that price with what they offer on line.

I also just booked tickets for a different trip and found the fare on the website to be considerably lower than the price I was given over the phone from the airline.

 

[westjones]

It has been crazy this year! We all be gave up for our March trip, and then one morning (at 5:00 am) I found round trip airfare non-stop for under $200 each. We have set $200 of our target. If we get airfare for under $200 we fly, otherwise we drive (17 hours, but we have done it many times before).

We also booked for our summer trip, and that price has gone up already as well.

I guess if you have an idea of what you are willing to pay, you should grab it if you see it.

DJ

 

[strega7]

Somebody once told me that if you are checking online, they raise the prices for the weekend when everyone is thinking about traveling, and lower it on Tuesday after midnight when you are back in the work week and don't have time to think about vacation. It seemed to hold true when we booked our airline tickets. It might be worth it to wait a couple of days to see if it goes back down.

 

[disneycrazzzy]

I can't even begin to understand the ups and downs in air fares on internet sites, but I have my own little story. We were planning on going to Hawaii for xmas 2004. Beginning 330 days out, I started checking airfare. It was always in the $900 range from Seattle to Kona, Big Island. One day (a Tue or Wed) on Travelocity only, the fare was $637. I grabbed 4 tickets. They were back to $900 the next day and were $1200+ a few weeks later. A few months later, my in-laws decided to come with us. I thought for sure we would be paying $1200. Low-and-behold, one day on Travelocity the tickets went back down to $637. They hadn't been that low since we purchased our tickets. Weird. What is even weirder is that when I went to the airline's website (Hawaiian) the tickets were still $1200.

My lessons learned:

1) Do your research, so you know what a good price is.
2) Keep checking especially Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
3) Check many websites (expedia, travelocity, orbitz, etc.)
4) Always check the airline's website to see if they beat the price without the fees.

I am now on the lookout for tickets from Seattle to Indianapolis. So far they are holding steady about $300.