Unbelievable price shift

[cymbeline]

Can anyone shine some light on the reason for this? Last night around 11.30pm I found flights to San Francisco for £600. This morning they are almost £1000? There are 5 of us so that's an increase of £2000. Can't afford that! Was it because it was very late at night and quiet on the websites? How can they justify that increase? I have the pages still open in front of me!

 

[CAL2]

hi, the price usually goes up as more seats are sold. not saying that why in your case, so fingers crossed they come down again. have you looked at other airlines for a better deal.?
cal

 

[chmurf]

how does airfare work ?

to make it simple

there are many fare classes, all represented by a letter (the letter you see between brackets next to your flight on some sites)

each fare classes is associated with a price (which can vary a few quids up or down, inside the same fare class, depending on day of the week, and things like that)
a fare class has perks or restrictions (refundable, non refundable, and so on, with associated penalties or fees)

the airline will open, or close, an undisclosed amount of seats, depending on the yield management they operate on the flight

so, let's say that the airline opens 6 seats on their most heavily discounted fare, price goes down
those seats are sold, or the airline closes those seats, price goes up.

there is no rule as to when they open or close fare classes.

price does not go up depending on how many seats are already booked on a plane. It changes depending on the need for the airline to sell seats on a plane.

the airline will change their fare class availabilty (fare bucket) all the time.
they might open heavily discounted seats at any time, close them (or they get sold out) then release a new set of seats at that same very discounted fare the week later.

it's all about yield management.

 

[absolutelystill]

I'm unsure if it's the same with airlines but I know if you're searching on a travel agency's website they may have something in place wherein if you're making the same search multiple times they will actually up the fare to try and panic you into booking. If you clear your cookies it will wipe any previous searches and may cause the price to come down.

I've just left my job as a travel agent and I know this was the case with our website.

 

[Portugal1000]

I have been working nights this week and every night after about 8pm the flights in kayak for United have decreased by about £300 but only on flights with horrible flight times in one direction. So either great flights going out and 20 hours to get home or visa versa. They have been anything from £518 to £584 but by midnight back up to over £800. I have decided to wait in the hope the good flights might also come down.
Seems random but sure they have a system.

 

[cymbeline]

Interestingly, they were United flights! Thanks for trying to explain. I guess I just keep trying....