Allegiant and # of tickets being booked

[littleaussie]

OMG! I just was playing around with Allegiant and some travel dates to SFB for this month. I found it very sneaky that the "calendar" was showing a departure date cost of $69.99 pp but when I clicked to continue, the price changed to $95.99+tax. After playing with the site for a few minutes, I realized that I could have 2 travelers and the price would show as $69.99 in the continue screen but if I put the travelers to 3 or more, it would change the price on the continue screen at $95.99. I guess I will be booking 2 sets of tickets (as we are all adults going)!

What a backhanded way of doing business. Has anyone else run across this?

ETA: TOTAL cost per person for booking 2 tickets + 2 tickets is $231.08. TOTAL cost per person for booking 4 tickets is $257.08

 

[seashoreCM]

... I found it very sneaky that the "calendar" was showing a departure date cost of $69.99 pp but when I clicked to continue, the price changed to $95.99+tax. After playing with the site for a few minutes, I realized that I could have 2 travelers and the price would show as $69.99 in the continue screen but if I put the travelers to 3 or more, it would change the price on the continue screen at $95.99. I guess I will be booking 2 sets of tickets (as we are all adults going)!

What a backhanded way of doing business. Has anyone else run across this?

That's standard for most airlines.

If the number of "cheap" seats remaining is less then the size of the party you book in one move, you are switched to the next tier of seat prices for everyone in the party.

Complicating the issue is that, as you are fidgeting with breaking your party into smaller parts, someone else booking at the same time could take some of those cheap seats.

A full service travel agent has the equipment to claim the two cheap seats and grab two more from the next tier and tell you that s/he did so and quote you the mixed price total.

 

[LilyWDW]

OMG! I just was playing around with Allegiant and some travel dates to SFB for this month. I found it very sneaky that the "calendar" was showing a departure date cost of $69.99 pp but when I clicked to continue, the price changed to $95.99+tax. After playing with the site for a few minutes, I realized that I could have 2 travelers and the price would show as $69.99 in the continue screen but if I put the travelers to 3 or more, it would change the price on the continue screen at $95.99. I guess I will be booking 2 sets of tickets (as we are all adults going)!

What a backhanded way of doing business. Has anyone else run across this?

ETA: TOTAL cost per person for booking 2 tickets + 2 tickets is $231.08. TOTAL cost per person for booking 4 tickets is $257.08

There were currently only 2 tickets left at the promotional price. After those 2 tickets are sold (to you or anyone else) the price goes up to the regular price. IF you need more then the number of tickets at the promotional price, the system will automatically set the price to the normal price because they can NOT fill your request with the promotional price. It can't sell you 3 tickets at the promotional price, so it defers to the other price.

I don't see it as backhanded at all. That brings to mind the idea they are trying to mess with you on purpose. Instead, that is simply how the system is set up (and is set up for most, if not all, airlines).

 

[mom2brooke76]

That's normal. Southwest has fare classes and if you book more people than seats available in the lowest price fare class, they will bump you up to the next price level.

 

[TaraPA]

That is very common & not backhanded at all. Every airline I've ever booked or watched has done it that way. They don't discount every seat, just a few, and if you need more than they have open at the discounted rate, it bumps the price up. You can book the 2 at the lower rate, then go back & book the rest at the higher rate. You'll have 2 separate reservation numbers, but it's the only way to get the 2 remaining discounted seats.

 

[littleaussie]

Well I went in and booked the 1st 2 tickets tonight at the price of $69.95. I did double check again just to see with 4 tickets and it was still at the higher rate of $119.95.

After I completed the entire booking process and got a confirmation, I logged out and opened a different browser (switching from IE to Firefox) and booked 2 more tickets at the price of $69.95.

So can that be explained? I did not have 2 browsers open up at the same time. The 2nd set of tickets were purchased approximately 15 minutes after the first set and I still got the discounted price.

Why would they do a price hike like that if I increased the number of tickets? I can definitely see your points about only having a limited number of seats available at a certain price. But this was not the case in my booking as I was able to make a different booking for 2 more discounted seats after my first booking. It was not a simultaneous booking.

 

[TaraPA]

That's great that 2 more opened up at the lower price & you could book them! I've never seen that happen, not for me anyway. I usually get stuck getting 1 or more seats at the higher fare. I'm assuming they opened up a few more cheaper seats as soon as you booked, or had it set to do that.