Weird Flight Prices

[WDWNY]

I've been stalking flights for a potential trip in November. I always look on Kayak which always has accurate prices from my experience... I went on right now and its pulling up $283 round trip on JetBlue which is a steal compared to the $400+ I've been pulling up for these dates. I went on Jetblue's website and prices are in the $400+ range for the same flights. Checked ITA and it's also pulling up the $283 round trip flight on JetBlue. Any idea what could be going on?

 

[chloelovesdisney]

No, but when I find a good price I don't ask questions and just book it.

 

[WDWNY]

The only problem is you can't book thru those sites they sent me to JetBlues website where its double the price!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Do you have more information you could provide? Maybe I can try to replicate your issue.

 

[sam_gordon]

I thought ITA gave you all the codes you would need for those prices. Have you tried calling Jetblue with those codes?

 

[WDWNY]

I've never actually used ITA to book with any codes- usually, when i go on Kayak or ITA I just use it to find the cheapest combo and then go to the airlines website to book and the prices were always the same. Where would you get the code?

Nov 23-28 (NYC-MCO)... the cheapest flights are JetBlue flights on Kayak and ITA ($253) and when you go on jetblue's website to try to book I'm getting the same flights for $500+.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I've never actually used ITA to book with any codes- usually, when i go on Kayak or ITA I just use it to find the cheapest combo and then go to the airlines website to book and the prices were always the same. Where would you get the code?

Nov 23-28 (NYC-MCO)... the cheapest flights are JetBlue flights on Kayak and ITA ($253) and when you go on jetblue's website to try to book I'm getting the same flights for $500+.

So I'm not sure what flight times you were looking at but here's some screen shots of what I did:







When I did view details you can see the Fare Codes. I haven't used Kayak much do they include taxes and fees in their prices? Also do they break it up on the price part per segment or is it total? Like on JetBlue's website it shows $283 each way but Kayak shows $253 and that's it. Sorry if I'm not much help.

 

[WDWNY]

Thanks! Time's don't matter much especially if its significantly cheaper. Kayak shows the prices total. What exactly are fare codes? Would I call JetBlue and tell them the fare code and be able to get it for $253?

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Thanks! Time's don't matter much especially if its significantly cheaper. Kayak shows the prices total. What exactly are fare codes? Would I call JetBlue and tell them the fare code and be able to get it for $253?

On the fare codes I don't know about them. Presumably they are like discount/promo codes but how they are applied I'm not sure. Sorry

 

[kaytieeldr]

I've never actually used ITA to book with any codes- usually, when i go on Kayak or ITA I just use it to find the cheapest combo and then go to the airlines website to book and the prices were always the same. Where would you get the code?

Nov 23-28 (NYC-MCO)... the cheapest flights are JetBlue flights on Kayak and ITA ($253) and when you go on jetblue's website to try to book I'm getting the same flights for $500+.

Okay, itasoftware is simply an information site. Kayak is a travel search engine that only gets paid by the service provider when users click through to the provider site. Kayak doesn't sell or bok anything. It's such a great site, I'm curious why users deprive the site of revenue

 

[sam_gordon]

In the itamatrix, after you click on a flight, you should get something like this (I picked some random airports and dates):

How to buy this ticket
Tickets cannot be purchased directly from ITA Software.
Provide this information to a travel agent to help them match the fares found.
Make sure to provide the exact booking and fare codes shown.
Fare for 1 adult
Fare 1: Carrier DL VAUQA0MD CHI to ORL (rules)
Passenger type ADT, one-way fare, booking code V
Covers ORD-ATL (Economy), ATL-MCO (Economy)
$78.14
Fare 2: Carrier DL VAUQA0MD ORL to CHI (rules)
Passenger type ADT, one-way fare, booking code V
Covers MCO-DTW (Economy), DTW-ORD (Economy)
$78.14
US Transportation Tax (US)
$11.72
US September 11th Security Fee (AY)
$11.20
US Passenger Facility Charge (XF)
$18.00
US Flight Segment Tax (ZP)
$16.00
Subtotal per passenger
$213.20
Number of passengers
x1
Subtotal For 1 adult
$213.20

• This ticket is non-refundable.
• Changes to this ticket will incur a penalty fee.

Fare Construction (can be useful to travel agents)
CHI DL X/ATL DL ORL 78.14VAUQA0MD DL X/DTT DL CHI 78.14VAUQA0MD USD 156.28 END ZP ORD ATL MCO DTW XT 11.72US 16.00ZP 11.20AY 18.00XF ORD4.50 ATL4.50 MCO4.50 DTW4.50
Total Airfare & Taxes
$213.20

I marked in red what I *THINK* would be needed to duplicate the price with the airline.

 

[Anal Annie]

I've been watching for air for a Sept. trip for a couple of weeks and the JetBlue site was acting really, really wonky yesterday. I have alerts set up on kayak and airfarewatchdog etc. plus I have been stalking the ITA site along with JetBlue and SW directly. We live near DC so could use BWI, National or Dulles although BWI is always our 1st choice. But as long as we're in / out of the same airport I'll book wherever I can find the best deal to fly direct and I have no problem with using a diff. airline for the return. We often fly in carry-ons only for 6 nights or less and if we do need to check a bag I'll be sure to pack so that we all share only ONE if we're not on SW.

Anyway, I went ahead & booked yesterday afternoon because when I looked at the JetBlue site directly the flight going down that I'd had my eye on had finally dropped from $100 to $82 - ALTHOUGH it was showing as $93 on kayak not $82 AND nearly all of their other flights (non-direct) suddenly ALL said "sold out" which I thought was really BIZARRE. While JB had a return the day I wanted for $67 it was in the early afternoon but SW had a return flight at 7:10 in the evening for $83 so for $16 more we could essentially have an additional 5 hours down there (it's just a 4 night trip so I want to maximize our time on the ground at Disney). The earlier SW flights heading down had all been hovering between $152 and $218 (for the direct ones). So I quickly snagged the $82 flight down directly thru the JB site and then booked the $83 return from SW to make a round trip for $165. Naturally I can't help but be curious to see what happened today to the fares so I just looked. The JB one now says $93 on their site like it did on Kayak yesterday and the "sold out" ones are all back but they went up to like $196 and the $83 return that I'd booked on SW now says $218 today!! It's CRAZY how these flights change so dramatically but it's even wilder how the websites wig out sometimes.

My DH didn't think I should book so far out but he doesn't "get it" when I try to explain how the direct flights are in shorter supply now than they used to be (since all of the airline mergers). And some markets (like Orlando) can have high demand. I HATE transferring on such a short flight and will do anything I can to avoid it. But it's actually getting really hard to find direct flights from the DC area and I know those will go first. Pretty much for direct there's only JetBlue and SW from BWI and National and United does a few from Dulles. But for the most part they've done away with them. Once the seats start selling out the prices go through the roof. I am pretty happy with $165 considering we just had to pay over $300 for DH for a trip to Detroit later this month and over $240 to get DS to / from Rochester, NY for college spring break. Sometimes it takes a lot of searching.