Grr Flights

[marketsons1985]

Flying from Detroit to DC on the 23rd, in and out on the same day for an interview. Just found out what time the interview was, so I couldn't have bought the tickets yesterday, but come on, an $80 price increase? I'm hoping that later today/early tomorrow morning it'l be cheap again.

Any thoughts on when I should buy or should I just bite the bullet and spend the money?

*College student here interviewing for a teaching job*

 

[purbeast0]

if you are using a site like travelocity or expedia, they purposely increase prices if they see you have been looking at the same flights a few times.

i'm pretty sure it's all done via cookies from the sites, so if that is the case, try removing your cookies for the site and reloading it.

 

[iamwiz82]

Check out http://www.farecast.com. it's fairly reliable in telling you whether or not to buy now, plus it shows the past price levels.

 

[DrawninwarD]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
if you are using a site like travelocity or expedia, they purposely increase prices if they see you have been looking at the same flights a few times.

i'm pretty sure it's all done via cookies from the sites, so if that is the case, try removing your cookies for the site and reloading it.

I don't think it's this. I know that Air Canada shows you cheap prices for flights one week after the current date. So a flight 7 days away might be $200, but as soon as it's midnight, the price will jump to something higher.

 

[kranky]

Originally posted by: DrawninwarD

Originally posted by: purbeast0
if you are using a site like travelocity or expedia, they purposely increase prices if they see you have been looking at the same flights a few times.

i'm pretty sure it's all done via cookies from the sites, so if that is the case, try removing your cookies for the site and reloading it.

I don't think it's this. I know that Air Canada shows you cheap prices for flights one week after the current date. So a flight 7 days away might be $200, but as soon as it's midnight, the price will jump to something higher.

I don't know about specific sites, but I do know some airline and travel sites do this. Clearing cookies could potentially work. Just like some retail sites will offer specials to people who appear to be first-time visitors, but not to those who already have cookies and have made purchases in the past.

 

[dullard]

Tuesday morning is the time that airlines announce price changes. Then by Tuesday afternoon, the other airlines respond trying to beat them. Thus, usually Tuesday afternoon is the cheapest time to buy.

However, you went from 2 weeks out yesterday to 13 days out. You might have switched from the cheap pricing window to the last-minute pricing window (which is higher to gouge business travelling, like yours, that must be scheduled at the last minute).

 

[marketsons1985]

Originally posted by: dullard
Tuesday morning is the time that airlines announce price changes. Then by Tuesday afternoon, the other airlines respond trying to beat them. Thus, usually Tuesday afternoon is the cheapest time to buy.

However, you went from 2 weeks out yesterday to 13 days out. You might have switched from the cheap pricing window to the last-minute pricing window (which is higher to gouge business travelling, like yours, that must be scheduled at the last minute).

Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. I guess we'll see. I'll report back later today.

 

[marketsons1985]

Alright, excellent, found a flight from US Airways out of detroit at 6AM, back at 9:45PM for $140 including taxes.

 

[LS21]

aside from base fare changes, which does not happen that often, airlines split the SAME SEAT into many different fare buckets with different restrictions (ie. whether it is refundable, whether changes are allowed)

if someone snatched up the last of a bucket, then you fall into the next bin. an economy for a single flight can vary from 100$ to 900$

 

[darkxshade]

I'd wait till tomorrow and pay another $80 more.

 

[dman]

Darn, ~9hrs driving time (Each way).... yeah I'd fly too.

Looks like you got a better deal, good.

 

[marketsons1985]

Originally posted by: dman
Darn, ~9hrs driving time (Each way).... yeah I'd fly too.

Looks like you got a better deal, good.

Yeah, gas in my car (Grand Prix sans 4th gear, gets about 18 mpg on the highway now) was gonna be about as expensive as this plane ticket. Plus, flying out of Detroit is 2.5 hrs from where I am at school (Grand Rapids) so it'd be close to 24 hours total drive time.

 

[KillerCharlie]

You hit the magical 2 week date. Once you hit two weeks before the trip, prices jump up. It's happened to me twice.