Help! Airline raising prices as I search???

[stracci2000]

I'm so frustrated!
I'm trying to book a flight to visit Mom and Dad in Florida.
I haven't booked a flight online for 4 years, so I wasn't aware of any new "dirty tricks" by the airlines.
When I first started looking for my specific dates, I was finding prices $400-500.
After comparing Travelocity, Orbitz, AAA, Expedia, etc., the prices suddenly jumped up to $600-700.
After I realized what was happening, I searched for a solution, and some travel sites said that it was cookies, and suggested clearing them and using Chrome in Incognito. So I did these things, and it didn't help.
I tried using DH's computer, and I guess since were on the same WiFi, the fares were still high.
I simply cannot believe that while I was searching, all the seats filled up from Albuquerque to Fort Myers.
I am really seeing red right now.

So I need to know for those of you who frequently travel, How do I get the lower prices to come back? Help!

 

[MollyMalone]

Whether the airlines-online booking agencies use cookies & then up the prices you see the longer you search has been a topic of interest through the years on TripAdvisor, and at least for domestic (US) flights, the theory has been debunked.

I use Kayak because it "harvests" the air fares from the airlines' own databases (except SouthWest, who does not participate) & then you can book directly with the airline(s); sometimes, you'll see what Kayak calls "hacker fares", where your outbound flight is with one airline, and the return flight is with another airline. (It's been a fair number of years since Expedia and the like were able to offer last-minute or discounted airfares for domestic flights. That's because the carriers have cut back the number of flights they offer; I honestly cannot remember the last time I flew within the US where there were any empty seats, unless it was the very first or the very last flight of the day.

Here's a screenshot I just made of the fares Kayak is showing for flights between Albuquerque & Ft. Meyers for the next couple of weeks, with a 5-night stay. You'll see the fares currently vary -- depending on your dates -- between $375 - $704. There may be some back-and-forth fluidity, but generally speaking, the US carriers use "bucket" or "tier" pricing: they allocate X number of seats to the lowest price category; when those sell out, the fare displayed is the next pricing tier, and so on. In my experience of late, it's rare for a higher fare to drop back to a lower price. Kayak often makes predictions (not guaranteed of course), based on your travel dates & historic data, as to whether you should buy now or hold off.

 

[MollyMalone]

P.S. Forgot to say Good Luck!! It's maddened me the past several years that I could fly from NYC to Europe at Christmas time for less money than a roundtrip ticket to visit family members east of the Mississippi.

 

[stracci2000]

P.S. Forgot to say Good Luck!! It's maddened me the past several years that I could fly from NYC to Europe at Christmas time for less money than a roundtrip ticket to visit family members east of the Mississippi.

Thanks for all your help, Molly!
I changed my vacation week by ONE day, and voila!---the prices were back in the $400 range. Hmmmm....imagine that?? I am so mad that they are doing this to people!
I will never make this mistake again. Even so, $482 x 2 people, plus rental car and insurance still comes to $1200. Unreal.
My mother better gift me some of her diamonds after all this rigamarole!

 

[BlingDreams]

That’s all bupkiss as far as I’m aware. You might have caught fares just after the subs (subscriptions) pull, where the airlines’ data is all updated. And typically, if one airline changes fares the others will too (“to remain in competition” is typically the reason they site).

They may be raising them to offset the money they’re losing from not flying during this hurricane. It’s hard to say. If your dates and times are flexible, you should be able to find a decent fare on Hotwire or other such sites. Good luck!!

 

[Elizabeth35]

Try google flights---you can see fares on a calendar so it saves a lot of time searching. You can also filter for stops, airline, etc.

 

[OoohShiny]

I use https://www.skyscanner.net/ - I've found it useful and has good filters to help searching!

Airline pricing has changed in recent years, though, AIUI - in the old days you'd be able to grab some bargains last minute, but now the cheapest prices always seem to be buying early. Annoying!

 

[molecule]

seem to be buying early

I'm echoing this statement. I typically buy tickets at least 4+ weeks out and pay less than 300 unless it's to a minor airport.

 

[stracci2000]

I just find is soooooo coincidental that as I kept searching my exact flight dates, popping from travel site to travel site, prices suddenly jumped up, and stayed that way. Until I altered my dates by one day. There were many low priced flights available when I first looked. How could they have all disappeared in 15 minutes?
And my information populated the fields of new sites that I looked at for the first time! Cookies!
Yeah, travel is becoming more and more complicated.

And the car rental companies only give you the total for the days you need?
There was no breakdown by day shown, just the total cost of the rental car. I guess I'm just getting old, but I like to know these things.
And even though I'm dropping off the car at 5 am, they are still charging me for the day, AARRGH.

 

[MollyMalone]

* * * And the car rental companies only give you the total for the days you need?
There was no breakdown by day shown, just the total cost of the rental car. I guess I'm just getting old, but I like to know these things.
And even though I'm dropping off the car at 5 am, they are still charging me for the day, AARRGH.

By any chance, did you book the car rental as a package with the airfare? I never have & I do see the car rental companies providing the daily charge for each category of vehicle (e.g., compact or intermediate) during the searched-for rental period. Buuuut, car rentals are not done on a calendar day basis & if you return the car more than a couple of hours later, on the return date, than the hour you received the car, it's cheaper to add on another day's charge rather than pay for say, 5 hours, at the hourly rate; with that kind of scenario, the rental company will automatically convert to another day's charge when quoting the price. So if, e.g., you plan on picking up at the car at 8 PM on a Sunday & returning it at 5 AM on the following Friday, the price quote(s) will be for 5 days, not 4 days + 9 hours.

Hope despite this initial aggravation, you have a great trip! I have many fond memories of visiting my grandparents when Naples & Ft. Myers were much "sleepier", a lot smaller, less populous than they are now. The airport terminal was a fairly dinky, cinder block building back then

 

[Efe]

Research what you want and then open a private window and do your search and buy right then. It will not be tied to your ip.

 

[Bron357]

Don’t get me started on this!
We wanted to go to the Gold Coast in QLD Australia for a friends party. I looked on line, wow, Sydney to Gold Coast $99 - what a bargain. I told my gf we’ll be there!
So on line, I booked 3 x Sydney to Gold Coast.
I then looked to book the return flight Gold Coast back to Sydney two days later.
WHAT THE @@@@@
All the return flights were nearly $500 each.
Talk about “bait advertising”.

 

[Bron357]

Oh and same trip (we went because I said we would go).
We hired a car from the airport. Given the keys and driving off I’m like “ew, whoever cleaned this rental car didn’t do a good job, there’s sweet wrappers in the tray!
We drive an hour down the coast to my girlfriends town. We are unpacking our gear, we have our 3 year old daughter with us and she is fussing big time, plus bags of gear (yeah for just 2 days) and hubbies phone rings. It’s the Car Rental company. The guy who had rented our car before us had left his wallet and documents in the glovebox and he needs them desperately.
So yep, hubby has to now drive 1 hour back to return the wallet and folio and drive back again to us.
Then when we return the car we have to have this huge argument with them because “you have exceeded the standard kilometer allocation so you will have to pay extra”.
I just about exploded.
We didn’t pay extra, in fact we paid nothing after I demanded we speak to the manager!

 

[AprilBaby]

Flights are supposed to be cheapest on tuesdays. We have found that to be true. We usually book southwest and check every Tuesday if the price has gone down. They issue a refund every time it does. It happens frequently.

 

[stracci2000]

And now Travelocity(who I booked with) is now sending me all kinds of emails advertising special lower rates on rental cars......AFTER they took my money for the inflated car rental!!
I cannot believe the horrible pricing games they are playing! Trickery! Deception! Bait and switch!

 

[stracci2000]

Research what you want and then open a private window and do your search and buy right then. It will not be tied to your ip.

I tried this and it didnt work. I used Incognito with Chrome.

 

[yssie]

I'm really not sure how I managed this, but I misread the thread title - like, twice just now -
"Help! Hairline raising as I search???"

Silver linings - at least ^ isn't actually the problem?

 

[lambskin]

Have to use a totally different computer. It is cookies and it is frustrating.