anyone know whats up with AirTran?

[DisneyDude61]

I have been checking airtrans website everyday. Keeps jumping between 79.00 and 99.00 each way.(non stop flt from Phila to orlando) I log on today and POW- Now the only seats available are regular coach at 180.00 one way! Do you think they are blocking seats? Southwest still has the 79.00 each way. I wanted to fly airtran because I have a 250.00 credit with them, but NOT if one way is going to cost me 180.00

 

[CarolA]

When are you going???

This is risk you take when you keep waiting for a "better deal" What can happend is the deal gets worse not better.

 

[Donna]

I was EXTREMELY pleased to get $79 each way from Pittsburgh/mco. USAIR was pretty low too, but not $176RT (incl. taxes).
This is for dates 11-2/6 . I was expecting alot higher. Does anyone else use the rationale that if the airfare is low , you are MEANT to go, lol.

 

[zurgswife]

if it jumped back and forth it probably was because of a sale. If it is now $180 I haven't experienced Airtran going back down. This means that all the discounted seats are gone. You might have to wait to use your credit...Phil to Orlando is popular and the fares will most likely not go down again...

 

[shelly3girls]

Airtran was having a Florida sale but I don't know the ending date. Their original prices for out Sept. trip was over $200 but we ended up paying $116 rt out of Philly. Below is what I have from the email.

These Florida web specials are on sale for travel from August 18 through October 5, 2005. Fares are valid for travel every day of the week. These sale fares must be purchased at AirTran.com by Friday, July 22, 2005, and at least 14 days in advance of travel.

 

[manning]

It's called capacity control. They change the fare based on how many bookings there are on a flight. The fares can change in an instant. It looks like the flight(s) are close to being booked up and they don't need to offer an incentive to get you to buy a seat(s). It's the chances you take waiting.

Some people can work the system, but they travel enough to know the booking patterns.

 

[Traveliz]

We fly Airtran and they do the jumping back and forth price wise all the time - most likely it will come back down. I know what the best price is for my area and when I see it I take it -- otherwise I just play the game and wait.

Liz

 

[della]

Other airlines also use "controlled capacity". Last year I was booking flights on the Spirit website for my family. There were 8 of us but I didn't realize that I had clicked to purchase 9 tkts instead. The website states the price will be held for 15 mins. I logged out of the website without completing the purchase and logged back on to find the airfare had increased by $25 per ticket. I waited the 15 mins and the airfare was back down to the original price.

BTW, I was able to get $49/one way, each way Philly to Orlando and back. Two days later, the best DD could do was $79/going out of Philly and $49/returning. These were for an August trip.