Does Anyone Know the Real Reason.......

[NJGIRL]

that flight prices change daily and sometimes hourly? I always thought it had to do with how filled the plane was getting and how many days from the flight date you were. But yesterday I was looking at flights at 9:30 and by 3:00 the same flights were up by $35 per person! When I looked at the seating chart no one else had booked a seat that wasn't already there in the morning! :D

[CanadianWDWFan]

I hate to say this, but they do it because they can. When I used to travel for work, I used to spend quite some time researching flights trying to get the best deal. After a while, I gave up trying to figure out airline pricing. There just seems to be no real reason why fares change by the hour, it just didn't make sense.

[VWL Mom]

Fares in general are always up and down but (according to CNN) yesterday there was a fare increase on all flights by United and Continental and others were following suit.

[wdwfansince75]

Hard to believe, folks, but prices do reflect costs. And airplanes use fuel...lots of it....the cost of fuel has been markedly up, and the airlines must react to cover their costs. No plot or infamy here...

[TinkerbellT421]

I wont begin to speculate why but through history DBF and I book our flights the day and minute they come out! DBF keeps a close eye on them and keeps track of the release schedule. It fluctuates a lot. We have found that if we purchase the moment they come out they are the cheapest. And about an hour later this past year they almost doubled. And then throughout the course of the day you will see them fluctuate. We noticed this about three years ago. So we for giggles keep an eye on them even though they are already purchased just to see if we did the right thing by purchasing the moment they came out. And usually by the time we fly that was the best deal released was the hour we bought them (the hour they came out) so now thats the plan from here on. Hopefully your flights come down again :(

[Dsnygirl]

I watched flights go up yesterday, as well... but I expected them to, as it was all over the papers early in the morning about how high the oil prices were soaring and I do believe airlines get a jump on this the moment they can, as they then anticipate much higher fuel costs. :( I don't think fuel costs are the ONLY reason prices fluctuate the way they do, but I do think it was the reason yesterday. Doesn't bode well for the summer travel season, that's for sure... :rolleyes:

[DizneyRox]

If it's anything like retail, at least some of it is shopping patterns. TDS used to raise prices on weekends and lower them during the week routinely. They figure that more people would be shopping on the weekends and you get more from them. During the week you would need to entice people to come into the store.

For airlines however, I'm sure most of it is the oil prices and supply/demand. As the supply of seats goes down, they demand more from travellers. Or something like that...

[Fangorn]

Can't say this happens for other airlines, but for Southwest, something else that comes into play is the type of fare purchased and if that reservation is cancelled at a later date.

For example:
I purchase a seat for $100 from Portland to Orlando (and yes, it's happened) for a trip 6 months for now. 5 months from now, I have to cancel my trip. When I cancel, my seat will go back into SW's inventory at $100, not at the current $200 fare. Someone looking for that exact flight at the time I cancel, will see the $100 fare available for that one seat.

I've watched it happen as I've re-adjusted flights for my family/friends.

What's happening is that SW has x number of seats priced at $Y - when they're sold, they're gone. But cancellations throw those seats back on the market at the original price, making for the appearance of even greater and more random price fluctuations.

Steve