Web Site Pricing

[bobe]

Why is it that when you go on Airline or Other Website for instance, you get a price then go back in a few hours later and the price has gone up significantly ? Did it yesterday on BA, within 2 hours the price had gone about AUD 600, or is it just me not savvy enough.?

 

[Ade]

Why is it that when you go on Airline or Other Website for instance, you get a price then go back in a few hours later and the price has gone up significantly ? Did it yesterday on BA, within 2 hours the price had gone about AUD 600, or is it just me not savvy enough.?

There could be a few things that might affect the price ;

1. The booking/fare class you saw earlier may not be available now - this is the most common reason why one would see a higher fare
2. Most of the browsers use Cookies or some sort of tracking mechanism - this will tell the airline website that you are interested in the ticket and they increase the price every now and then to give a sense that the price is increasing and there by putting pressure on you to lock in the fare and book the ticket
3. if you for instance, tried the same search on a different browser, or, use inPrivate or inCognito mode browsing on IE or Chrome respectively, chances are you might see a different pricing

I'd suggest, if you've got a TA, talk to them .. actually a few of them and see who gives you competitive pricing.

The thing with TA's is that most of the airlines sell tickets from low fare buckets to the TA's and TA's are expected to fill/sell them ... one of the reasons why you can find a cheaper ticket with a TA than booking directly with the airline.

You might also consider looking into ITA-Matrix Matrix - ITA Software by Google This website lists all possible fare, airline combinations and you can take your pick. You won't be able to book directly using ITA, so you need to use a TA or you can use BookWithMatrix - Book flight itineraries from ITA Matrix to book the itinerary found on ITA Matrix.

Hope this helps

Cheers,
Ade

 

[bobe]

Many thanks De for such a detailed answer

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Also, sometimes people search for one seat, but when they return to actually book the two seats they need, they find the price is much higher. This can be due to only one seat being available at the lower price, but because you have requested two, they both price at the higher price.

You can work around this by making separate bookings, one at the lower price, one at the higher.

 

[p--and--t]

A bit of a segue, I've noticed some of the hotels sites work similarly. If you don't clear cookies, each time you search the same hotel or location, the price inches upwards because you seem serious about booking. Yet when I clear browser history, the original low price magically re-appears.

In addition, always best to look for a price anonymously, if you log in often the price is higher - so much for loyalty prices

 

[Ktan89]

I wonder.. Does this apply to rental car searches too?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

A bit of a segue, I've noticed some of the hotels sites work similarly. If you don't clear cookies, each time you search the same hotel or location, the price inches upwards because you seem serious about booking. Yet when I clear browser history, the original low price magically re-appears.

In addition, always best to look for a price anonymously, if you log in often the price is higher - so much for loyalty prices

It's strange... you'd almost think that if you were looking but didn't book that they might adjust the price downwards to lure you in to make your mind up! I might look at the Hilton Park Lane 10 times but how does the system know if I am 'serious' to book (and so puts the price up) or whether it's just outside my price range and I'm waiting for the rates to come down? (I guess someone has been paid a lot of money to work that out!)

 

[p--and--t]

It's strange... you'd almost think that if you were looking but didn't book that they might adjust the price downwards to lure you in to make your mind up! I might look at the Hilton Park Lane 10 times but how does the system know if I am 'serious' to book (and so puts the price up) or whether it's just outside my price range and I'm waiting for the rates to come down? (I guess someone has been paid a lot of money to work that out!)

Don't know their thinking (marketers ) but surmised its the "make them panic" theory. Book now or it might go up even more.

Even stranger - staying at a hotel for a couple nights, went down to reception and asked for a one night extension. Receptionist said "I recommend you go online to book another night with ---.com and come back and give me the booking number and I will insure you stay in the same room. You will save at least 10% on what I have to charge you". Doesn't make any sense at all - the hotel then have to pay the commission to the OTA and I get it 10% less????

 

[V Singh]

There could be a few things that might affect the price ;

1. The booking/fare class you saw earlier may not be available now - this is the most common reason why one would see a higher fare
2. Most of the browsers use Cookies or some sort of tracking mechanism - this will tell the airline website that you are interested in the ticket and they increase the price every now and then to give a sense that the price is increasing and there by putting pressure on you to lock in the fare and book the ticket
3. if you for instance, tried the same search on a different browser, or, use inPrivate or inCognito mode browsing on IE or Chrome respectively, chances are you might see a different pricing

I'd suggest, if you've got a TA, talk to them .. actually a few of them and see who gives you competitive pricing.

The thing with TA's is that most of the airlines sell tickets from low fare buckets to the TA's and TA's are expected to fill/sell them ... one of the reasons why you can find a cheaper ticket with a TA than booking directly with the airline.

You might also consider looking into ITA-Matrix Matrix - ITA Software by Google This website lists all possible fare, airline combinations and you can take your pick. You won't be able to book directly using ITA, so you need to use a TA or you can use BookWithMatrix - Book flight itineraries from ITA Matrix to book the itinerary found on ITA Matrix.

Hope this helps

Cheers,
Ade

Thank you for your insight..v

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Don't know their thinking (marketers ) but surmised its the "make them panic" theory. Book now or it might go up even more.

Checking Bali hotels for the last couple of weeks they kept getting cheaper every day. London hotels kept getting more expensive!!

 

[p--and--t]

There could be a few things that might affect the price ;

1. The booking/fare class you saw earlier may not be available now - this is the most common reason why one would see a higher fare
2. Most of the browsers use Cookies or some sort of tracking mechanism - this will tell the airline website that you are interested in the ticket and they increase the price every now and then to give a sense that the price is increasing and there by putting pressure on you to lock in the fare and book the ticket
3. if you for instance, tried the same search on a different browser, or, use inPrivate or inCognito mode browsing on IE or Chrome respectively, chances are you might see a different pricing

I'd suggest, if you've got a TA, talk to them .. actually a few of them and see who gives you competitive pricing.

The thing with TA's is that most of the airlines sell tickets from low fare buckets to the TA's and TA's are expected to fill/sell them ... one of the reasons why you can find a cheaper ticket with a TA than booking directly with the airline.

You might also consider looking into ITA-Matrix Matrix - ITA Software by Google This website lists all possible fare, airline combinations and you can take your pick. You won't be able to book directly using ITA, so you need to use a TA or you can use BookWithMatrix - Book flight itineraries from ITA Matrix to book the itinerary found on ITA Matrix.

Hope this helps

Cheers,
Ade

Very good tips.

1. - yes fare buckets can empty and so price of fares you can see on the same site goes up (plus dynamic pricing changes)
2. - experienced this many many times, airfare creeps up and up. clear browser history and the same fare I saw yesterday comes back
3. - very good advice (plus if using same browser clear all history)

In addition, I have also found for some obscure reason, going through for example skyscanner I have come up with a fare significantly cheaper than I could find on any other site including the airline itself. So it definitely pays to look around at several sites to compare prices and use incognito mode.

 

[albatross710]

. Receptionist said "I recommend you go online to book another night with ---.com and come back and give me the booking number and I will insure you stay in the same room. You will save at least 10% on what I have to charge you". Doesn't make any sense at all - the hotel then have to pay the commission to the OTA and I get it 10% less????

I've pondered about this one as well. I think it comes down to the hotel having decided it's cheaper to outsource the reservations functions in total, rather than trying to keep the many staff updated on changes and pricing and yields etc in a hybrid online/direct model. Especially where they want to use low cost staff in the front office.

I have actually been avoiding hotels who think this way.