Airfare offers... constantly changing?

[MyZoeJane]

So, I decided that I REALLY don't want to fly out of Midway airport (Which is the only Chicago airport that hosts Southwest) and wanted to fly out of O'Hare instead (also Chicago, but closer to me and nicer).

So, the lowest airfares for United and American have bopped around from $206 to $240 for days now and the times have been really crummy. (Like, arriving in Orlando at 10pm and leaving Orlando at 6:30am!!! No thank you!)

But I kept trudging through Orbitz, Travelocity, and Expedia... and all of a sudden today, an offer popped up for GREAT times! (departing Chicago at 3pm, then a return flight departing Orlando at 1:17!)

THEN my DH suggested going directly to the United website to search for those flights... it was $15 cheaper there! Then DH and I got to talking about something and the search timed out on the United flight... THE OFFER WAS $50 more PER TICKET when we went back just 20 minutes later!

Then I found it again on Orbitz for the price I originally found it for....

Then I found it on United again an hour later and the price was down again?!?!

What's going on? The price for our two flight numbers switched a couple of time within an hour???

Well, the important thing is... we ended up booking three round trip tickets for $702!

Forget Southwest!

 

[Boas]

prices often change based on seat avail.

sounds like you were on the boarder of a few different Fare Class Seats (People change/ cancel flights and the seats come open... or disappear).

evidence of what the airlines say: "price isn't guarenteed until you purchase."

enjoy your trip.

 

[Mom2DS]

Had the same thing happen to me! We got tickets for around $170. I went back several days later to see if they were any cheaper and they were -- $118! I switched over to a different website to see what penalties I might have to pay to change and when I got back (just a few minutes later), the tickets were now in the $180's!! What the heck happened in a few minutes?!? Oh well, guess we'll stick with our $170's!!

 

[justplaingoofy]

So, I decided that I REALLY don't want to fly out of Midway airport (Which is the only Chicago airport that hosts Southwest) and wanted to fly out of O'Hare instead (also Chicago, but closer to me and nicer).

So, the lowest airfares for United and American have bopped around from $206 to $240 for days now and the times have been really crummy. (Like, arriving in Orlando at 10pm and leaving Orlando at 6:30am!!! No thank you!)

But I kept trudging through Orbitz, Travelocity, and Expedia... and all of a sudden today, an offer popped up for GREAT times! (departing Chicago at 3pm, then a return flight departing Orlando at 1:17!)

THEN my DH suggested going directly to the United website to search for those flights... it was $15 cheaper there! Then DH and I got to talking about something and the search timed out on the United flight... THE OFFER WAS $50 more PER TICKET when we went back just 20 minutes later!

Then I found it again on Orbitz for the price I originally found it for....

Then I found it on United again an hour later and the price was down again?!?!

What's going on? The price for our two flight numbers switched a couple of time within an hour???

Well, the important thing is... we ended up booking three round trip tickets for $702!

Forget Southwest!

those seats could've been held for someone and after 24hrs or midnight of the next day they are released if they are not confirmed. Therefore, it may be more advantagous to check with airlines websites after midnight because alot of the "hold" reservations may be purged.