AirTran Pricing for June 2012 - Coach vs Business Class

[Julylady]

We are watching airfare for a late June trip. Our first choice is the direct flights GRR to MCO from AirTran. These flights opened up for booking about two weeks ago. The cost for the flight to Orlando is low, but on the return flight the cost of a Coach ticket is only $1 less than a Business Class seat using the AirTran website.

However, I can purchase the exact same return flight at a much lower cost from Expedia or Hotwire. Normally I always buy airfare directly from the airline in case of cancelled or changed flights thinking that I don't want to deal with a 3rd party.

What am I missing here? Does the AirTran website have a history of doing this? Will the costs drop if I just wait? Or, should I go ahead and purchase my flights from Expedia?

And insight or advice would be much appreciated.

 

[suemom2kay]

For some reason, when Airtran first lists their flights they have an exorbitant number, usually the same or very close to their business class flight. It changes in the next day or so to the actual fare. I don't know why this is, but it is Airtran.

 

[DebbieB]

We are watching airfare for a late June trip. Our first choice is the direct flights GRR to MCO from AirTran. These flights opened up for booking about two weeks ago. The cost for the flight to Orlando is low, but on the return flight the cost of a Coach ticket is only $1 less than a Business Class seat using the AirTran website.

However, I can purchase the exact same return flight at a much lower cost from Expedia or Hotwire. Normally I always buy airfare directly from the airline in case of cancelled or changed flights thinking that I don't want to deal with a 3rd party.

What am I missing here? Does the AirTran website have a history of doing this? Will the costs drop if I just wait? Or, should I go ahead and purchase my flights from Expedia?

And insight or advice would be much appreciated.

Don't be surprised if you go through Expedia you get a message "fare not available" when you try to book it. It's happened to me a couple of times when their fare was lower than the airline's website.