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Hello fellow Pilgrims: About two weeks ago, I priced air fair from Boston to Bilbao with return flight from Santiago to Boston at $1,040 on Iberia. I just checked again and the same flight was billing at $1,500. With gas prices going down, I have been told that air line ticket prices should be decreasing by 5% this winter. How could prices have jumped by 50%? Am I missing something? John
Airline websites leave cookies on your computer so they know you have looked at prices before so they up the price. Use a different computer from a different location and see what the price is.
An interesting rumour ... I guess you could clear your cookies and see if there really is a price change.
Its not that simple, I'm sure there is a way but it involves software to remove tracking cookies etc. and its not a rumour.An interesting rumour ... I guess you could clear your cookies and see if there really is a price change.
Hi Clearskies: Did you use another computer too or did you get ride of the cookies in your computer? If the latter is true, how did you do that?I was caught out by this tactic by Aer Lingus last year. Not this year
Hi Clearskies: Did you use another computer too or did you get ride of the cookies in your computer? If the latter is true, how did you do that?
Its not that simple, I'm sure there is a way but it involves software to remove tracking cookies etc. and its not a rumour.
There is a simpler explanation that does not need complex conspiracy theories. Airlines offer limited numbers of seats at each price, and once they have been booked, the best price is then dearer. A similar pattern exists for award flights - once the allocated number has been used, then it is not possible to book that flight using award points.Hello fellow Pilgrims: About two weeks ago, I priced air fair from Boston to Bilbao with return flight from Santiago to Boston at $1,040 on Iberia. I just checked again and the same flight was billing at $1,500. With gas prices going down, I have been told that air line ticket prices should be decreasing by 5% this winter. How could prices have jumped by 50%? Am I missing something? John
There is a simpler explanation that does not need complex conspiracy theories. Airlines offer limited numbers of seats at each price, and once they have been booked, the best price is then dearer.
Thank you all for the information. I had no idea this kind of thing happened. I don't believe in conspiracies but this is truly incredulous. When I book, I'll go to AAA travel and see what they come up with or book it from my laptop.
Thank you T2Andrea for the reply. I tried cleaning my cookies but the quote remains +$500. Would you recommend that I buy my airfare through AAA or off my AMEX gold card? I can quote flight numbers, times and previous quotes. God I hope I don't have to pay +$500 of some cute airline software program designed to bilk me out of every last penny. This is discouraging to say the least. JohnIt is not a conspiracy. It is an industry-wide business model designed to maximize profits. The cookie on your computer tells the airline computer that you are interested in this particular flight. The software on the reservation computer is sophisticated enough to follow your interest even if you change dates seeking a better price
Other factors include the number of people who have looked at that route over the past 24-48 hours, how many times you return to the same flight, and the number of tickets actually sold for that flight. The computer software automatically knows to vary the price it quotes you to maximize airline profits. Even an extra 40 or 50 dollars or Euros on a round trip airfare adds up to a lot of money on the corporate bottom line at the end of the year.
Flushing your cookies is one effective way to counter the software. However, if you are a frequent flyer and use your account on your preferred airline, you are screwed. The account login overrides the cookie placed on your computer. So, flushing the cookie cache does not necessarily work if you are logged into your frequent flyer account.
The tactic to use here is to use another computer or flush all cookies, search and pin down the flight and fare, start the ticketing process, THEN log into your frequent flyer account during the process. By then the airline is committed to offering you the fare it quoted.
Even this is no guarantee. Buying airline fares has become like playing roulette in a casino. The odds vary, but over time and in the end, the house (airline) usually always wins.
I hope this helps.
I've just done some googling about this issue, and the travel "experts" seem to think that the rumours are probably not true. Just as an example, see this article: http://www.usatoday.com/story/trave...ert-do-cookies-really-raise-airfares/2121981/
I have searched the same airline routes many many times and found constant prices for surprising lengths of time. I have also had price changes (both up and down) between the time I started a transaction and the time it finished minutes later.
It amazes me how cheap airfares are (compared to other costs and earnings) compared to years past.
I, too, have been waiting for the price of my airline tickets to drop. I know the price of oil is about half of what it was at the peak, but the airfare is not reflecting that. I am cautiously optimistic that once the air fare war starts, the price of tickets will fall rather rapidly. Hope it starts soon. I will have to buy tickets before the end of March.
I wonder how you do it? Use Kayak? The lowest so far was Turkish Air $865 R/T. But the connections are terrible.I would not count much on the decline of oil to add to decreased airline ticket prices. Most airlines have hedged there fuel cost and therefore are somewhat immune to oil price fluctuations. If they are on the short side they just find another fee to charge us. Those fees are the main reason airlines have become so profitable (to the tune of tens of billions of dollars).
The process I use is to track flight cost on Kayak through daily alerts sent to my email. When I find a good price, I check it through another site and that airlines site. Then purchase my ticket. I have rarely found prices change in that time frame.
That said, I have seen really good prices disappear quickly and the airlines do utilize many of the above stated tools to increase profits. During the last five years, I have never paid more than $800. round trip (non stop) from Chicago to Madrid, London, Dublin or Barcelona.
The time of year also has a big impact on cost. I usually fly in the March/April time frame.
Ultreia,
Joe
Tom:I wonder how you do it? Use Kayak? The lowest so far was Turkish Air $865 R/T. But the connections are terrible.
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