Southwest fare hike...Grrrr....

[leebee]

When WN posted their new "sale" earlier this week, I decided to fly Boston-Canton/Akron to go see my MIL. $81 one way is a pretty good fare. Yesterday I purchased the outbound leg (BOS-CAK) using the fare searcher to get the cheapest day/flight, but needed to check the return date/time. This morning when I purchased the return leg, fares were up to $99. Thinking I must have missed the window for the lowest "wanna get away" fare, I checked the low-fare searcher. Nope... lowest fare went up $18, across the board, for the lowest fare CAK-BOS for July and August... overnight. I bought the return, it's still a good rate, and I'll keep checking to see if fares change again for a refund. It's just annoying that these fares change so arbitrarily overnight!

Now, rental car rates are outrageous! So I'm playing the "check every day, multiple times" game there, too; good think I'm not working this summer, as playing travel agent seems to be a full-time job!

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

You are mistaken. The fare didn't increase, they just sold out of the lower fare class.

 

[Yellowjj]

Check back on Tuesday after noon. The weekend is set for 'surge' pricing for most airlines.

CAK is one of the cheaper stations consistently. So expect a drop after the weekend is over.

 

[sam_gordon]

I don't think there's anything arbitrary about airfares or just about any product for that matter.

 

[Allison]

I would disagree that it is arbitrary although it may look that way to the consumer.

 

[leebee]

You are mistaken. The fare didn't increase, they just sold out of the lower fare class.

I don't think so. Maybe if it was for that day or a couple of random days across the summer, I'd believe they'd sold out of the lower fare class, but it wasn't. $81 was the fare price for almost every day for all of July and August, including weekend days. When I bought the outbound fare on Friday, I even checked the return to see how many $81 tickets I could buy, and it'd let me book 8 for my desired day. I find it really hard to believe that they sold out of this fare in about 15 hours, not only for the day I wanted, but for every single day for every available $81 seat, all summer long. I'm going to keep checking.