While booking air for a trip to San Juan yesterday, ended up getting on the phone with fellow travelers and we both got on Expedia, typed in the same criteria, and got 2 different views. My page listed the flight at $393 and he saw the same flight for $359. I believe he also saw some flight options that did not appear at all on my screen. Something about cookies or caches, according to computer saavy nephew, but ended up with him buying all 4 tix because we never could get the same US Airways flight for the $359 he could. I thought I'd read about such practices a while back(once you check a price X number of times, the website continues to display the older/higher/first-seen price) but friends pooh-poohed me as paranoid. Now I wonder. I am still confused. Anyone ever had this experience before?
Posted by
New Paltz, NY
9110 posts
There are many people that have encountered the same experience you describe. Expedia, and the other sites are adamant that they don't play around with the fares. They say the fare differences originate at the source: the airline's own computer systems which they interface with. National Geographic Traveler did a story about the phenomena a few years ago. Using researchers in different parts of the country, and checking fares at the same time at the same sites, they weren't able to replicate it. Thus in there opinion, the issue does originate with the airlines systems.
Posted by
Boulder, CO, USA
780 posts
Reboot the computer and it should help. Thats what they do at my office when getting business flights. It works.
Posted by
San Francisco, California, USA
446 posts
I had the same problem using Continental's website awhile back -- so it's not necessarily limited to third-party travel agent sites. There was a non-stop from SFO to LHR available from Continental's code share partner Virgin Atlantic, but you couldn't book it on the website. I had to call Continental on the phone to get the ticket. They couldn't explain why it wasn't on the website.
(I did not book with Virgin directly because this was a deal where I was using a credit I had from Continental because of a previous booking I had to cancel.)
Posted by
Puyallup, WA, USA
881 posts
Hi, Denny.
It isn't a problem with your computer, or Expedia price fixing. Here's how it works:
At all of the large travel sites, you're using a web based overlay (in simplified terms, basically a 'skin') that accesses the underlying air booking systems (Sabre, Worldspan, etc).
As a person looks at a flight, after a particular point, the systems will temporarily remove the fares from the inventory, assuming that the customer wishes to purchase. If not purchased, the fares go back into the system after a couple minutes.
As the airlines generally put their inventory into the systems these sites can access in blocks of 6, or 9, the happens more often than you'd think. A larger group will have greater odds for this to happen. (aka it will happen more often when looking for 4 travelers, than for 1).
Solution: Do what you did, and have the person who can see it purchase the tickets, OR close your browser, and wait a few minutes for the system to purge. If no one purchases the tickets in the meantime, you should see them pop back up.
So basically, in your situation, your friend was holding the tickets left for $359, and there weren't enough tickets left at $359 for you to get that price for four people as well. So, the system offered you the next lowest price: $393. Most likely anyone searching for four tickets after your friend did also saw that $393 price.
Posted by
OP
Columbus, OH, USA
2085 posts
Thanks for the responses. The whole web still amazes and confounds me. Remember when the only way you could buy a ticket was to speak with someone? :-)