Continental yoyo fares?

[Singinglizzie]

Ok, what is going on? I've been trying to buy 2 rt tix for about 2 months and I can't believe the up n down prices of tickets. It makes me nervous that if I buy today, fares will drop tomorrow and I'll get taken advantage of. Yesterday the fares came back down in my range so I figured I had a day or two to decide, but nope today there is a $40 per ticket diff. Keeping my fingers crossed that fares drop over the weekend.

 

[seashoreCM]

Almost all airlines hafve yoyo fares.

I was told that if you shop on a Tuesday or Wednesday for trafvel on a Tuesday or Wednesday then you tend to get lower fares.

 

[Ted in Halifax]

seashoreCM summarizes my experience over the last 3 years or so. However, the last 6 to 8 months have been different. I don't know if it is the interaction between Continental and United Systems?

I managed to buy a Saturday departure from MHT in NH for March 10th (a Saturday for $392 taxes and fees in for 4 people - one way (bought this on a Friday). This was odd for me, since I usually end up buying a Tuesday or Wednesday departure.

Similar thing happened on the return. One Saturday morning I was surfing and found my return fare for March 22nd (Thursday - $520 for 4 with taxes etc in).

Something is different in how they are doing things right now ....

 

[betterlatethannever]

i have to agree that there is something strange on the Continental site.

Usually when I put in my flight information(cle to mco), I click on "non stop flights only". For the last two weeks, (for my October trip) I was getting a price of $326. Well one time I didn't click "round trip only" and got $287 (for a non stop flight). I went back and forth (clicking/not clicking the non stop button) to make sure I could believe what was happening.

Continental has since fixed it, but I am wondering how many times I have paid more for flights over the years.

Ed

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

That is a gamble you take. Fares price are not constant they flucuate hourly. If an airline has a flight that seats are not selling they don't want to fly a flight 25% full so they will then drop the price for a few hours or for the day in order to fill the flight. Once they achieve the set number of people they want to sell tickets to for the discounted price, the price will then be increased.

If you are worried about the price drop and SWA is an option for you then I would book with SWA because they do not charge a change fee if the price drops. You can get a refund in the form of a travel vouchure. And no baggage fees with SWA

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

i have to agree that there is something strange on the Continental site.

Usually when I put in my flight information(cle to mco), I click on "non stop flights only". For the last two weeks, (for my October trip) I was getting a price of $326. Well one time I didn't click "round trip only" and got $287 (for a non stop flight). I went back and forth (clicking/not clicking the non stop button) to make sure I could believe what was happening.

Continental has since fixed it, but I am wondering how many times I have paid more for flights over the years.

Ed

There use to be a glitch in their system that if you clicked the searched by schedule you got a lower price verses searching by price for the same exact flight! But I still look at both options to see if one has a lower price and it has been along time since I scored a lower price using this method.

 

[dis_guy]

I find that the old rules like, "book just after midnight in your airline's home city on a Wednesday for lowest prices", haven't worked for quite a while now.

It is still cheaper to fly on Tues, Wed, or Thurs, but that's about it.

My only rule is: If I see a price I can live with (allowing for say, 10% increase year to year), I buy it. Period. And never look back...something I've never actually managed to do. Most of the time I never see a lower price once I book.