Delta's New Ripoff?

Old May 22, 2010, 8:04 pm
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Delta's New Ripoff?

Went to book 2 tickets on delta.com for IAH > GFK. Total fare was $1002.

Filled out everything and went to checkout. Must have taken 3-4 minutes

With cursor over "Purchase", a popup appears saying "your fare is now $10 more per ticket.

A Delta "Frequent Ripoff"? Anybody else experience this?
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Old May 23, 2010, 8:54 am
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I'll move this to Delta's forum.

Last edited by jabez; May 23, 2010 at 8:59 am
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Old May 23, 2010, 10:21 am
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Happens frequently but FWIW the problem is not limited to DL. Seen this just as often with CO though I gotta admit, I have never had an instance with any airline where a few minutes later, the price was lower.
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Old May 23, 2010, 12:35 pm
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Several years ago I was in the process of booking a trip on nwa.com, and got a popup screen saying the price had changed. It was almost $100 lower. Made my day.
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Old May 23, 2010, 12:42 pm
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This has happened to me about a dozen times with DL over the past 9 months and can be quite infuriating. Don't remember it ever happening with NW, KL, or UA (if it did then not often enough or a big enough diff to stick in my mind.) I'd think integrity would say that if they quote you a fare then they should honor that fare for the time it takes to complete the booking process. 15 minutes would be a good timeout I'd think.
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Old May 23, 2010, 1:02 pm
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Originally Posted by ebhb2004
Went to book 2 tickets on delta.com for IAH > GFK. Total fare was $1002.

Filled out everything and went to checkout. Must have taken 3-4 minutes

With cursor over "Purchase", a popup appears saying "your fare is now $10 more per ticket.

A Delta "Frequent Ripoff"? Anybody else experience this?
It has happened to me before as well. I suspect that the booking system can detect levels of "interest" in a particular flight based on number of queries and adjust the fare on the fly.
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Old May 23, 2010, 1:16 pm
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Happened to me twice Once on Delta and once on American. When the American one happened I checked other sites expedia etc and the prices were still higher, when I did it with delta expedia etc showed the new price but AMEX travel still showed the fare i was trying to book listed as (only 1 available at this price)
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Old May 23, 2010, 2:32 pm
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If it's for two or more tickets, likely the price was for one ticket (there was just one seat available at the price) and the pricing system is set to display the lowest price, regardless of the seat # requested. That is, for multiple seats it doesn't automatically go to the next higher fare class with the # of seats requested.

It's always a good idea to book multiple seats one-by one. Vs. paying the higher fare class price for two seats, getting it as two separate PNRs can get one at the lowest fare class (last seat avail), while only pay more for the second seat.

I always, before booking any multiple seats PNR together, I price it out separately one-by-one and ensure that the price of booking it together doesn't fall into a hire fare class vs. doing it one-by-one (at least for the first seat).
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Old May 24, 2010, 8:17 am
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Typical.

One time it increased my fare by $500 between booking the ticket and going to checkout (actually on the confirm page during checkout). I ended up canceling and booking it through phone reservations at the originally quoted price.

That's much more than a caching problem

Bait and switch.
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Old May 24, 2010, 8:31 am
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peak summer surcharge?

Since the difference is $10, could it be that the new peak summer days surcharge of $10 (most days June through August) announced on most/all legacy carriers only shows late in the booking process? I don't remember how the holiday surcharges were handled when they were introduced at the end of last year.

Or does the fare code change when the price changes, which would seem to indicate a last seat availability issue? In that case, purchase the tickets one-by-one as suggested above unless children are traveling or you otherwise need to be on the same PNR.
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Old May 24, 2010, 8:49 am
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Delta is not ripping you off.

Originally Posted by ebhb2004
Went to book 2 tickets on delta.com for IAH > GFK. Total fare was $1002.

Filled out everything and went to checkout. Must have taken 3-4 minutes

With cursor over "Purchase", a popup appears saying "your fare is now $10 more per ticket.

A Delta "Frequent Ripoff"? Anybody else experience this?
Prices can and will change (up or down) as seat inventory changes. Just because you are booking a flight in three to four minutes using the internet, does not preclude other passengers throughout the world, from doing the same and reducing the seat inventory available on your selected flight.

As your credit card was not yet billed for your Delta flight, and the price increased, you were proactively notified by Delta of the price change before submitting your credit card for billing. Just like the stock market, until your buy offer for your ticket is finalized, the price from your original quotation to final purchase changed in less than four minutes. You might be more upset if the price dropped $100.00 two days after purchase and it would have been cheaper to wait to purchase. Then you could get really frustrated in finding out doing a reissue to a refund the $100.00 price difference could potentially cost you a service fee of $150.00 or more.

Last edited by ceieoc; May 25, 2010 at 7:22 am
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Old May 24, 2010, 9:05 am
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Originally Posted by Sez_Who
Happens frequently but FWIW the problem is not limited to DL. Seen this just as often with CO though I gotta admit, I have never had an instance with any airline where a few minutes later, the price was lower.
I recently booked two separate award tickets atl-svo-atl in Business Elite, on two separate dates in March. Both times the rate quoted was 130,000 miles but when I clicked to purchase the price dropped to 100,00 miles.
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Old May 24, 2010, 10:06 am
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Originally Posted by ceieoc
Prices can and will change (up or down) as seat inventory changes. Just because you are booking a flight in three to four minutes using the internet, does not preclude other passengers throughout the world, from doing the same and reducing the seat inventory available on your selected flight.

As your credit card was not yet billed for your Delta flight, and the price increased, you were proactively notified by Delta of the price change before submitting your credit card for billing. Just like the skock market, until your buy offer for your ticket is finalized, the price from your quotation to final purchase changed. You might be more upset if the price dropped $100.00 two days after purchase and it would have been cheaper to wait to purchase. Then you could get really frustrated in finding out doing a reissue to a refund the $100.00 price difference could potentially cost you a service fee of $150.00 or more.
No, this IS a total ripoff (and I've never, ever seen this happen on CO). Once you select your flights, that inventory space is being held for you - no one else can 'take your seat inventory' away. Your transaction needs to be completed in a reasonable amount of time or it will expire and the inventory goes back, but once you've selected your flights and have gotten to the point of entering passenger and payment information, the price should never change!

If I re-start my search, then the price can be different based on either fare changes or inventory changes.

If this occurs in the middle of a transaction, it's no different than a retail store marking an item $10, then ringing up at $20 and saying 'oops, the price just changed, sorry'. How about a gas station changing the price per gallon while you're in the middle of filling the tank?

OP - hopefully you can get screenshots, but nonetheless, you should file a formal complaint against Delta with the Federal Trade Commission.
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Old May 24, 2010, 10:51 am
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Originally Posted by bocastephen
No, this IS a total ripoff (and I've never, ever seen this happen on CO). Once you select your flights, that inventory space is being held for you - no one else can 'take your seat inventory' away. Your transaction needs to be completed in a reasonable amount of time or it will expire and the inventory goes back, but once you've selected your flights and have gotten to the point of entering passenger and payment information, the price should never change!

If I re-start my search, then the price can be different based on either fare changes or inventory changes.

If this occurs in the middle of a transaction, it's no different than a retail store marking an item $10, then ringing up at $20 and saying 'oops, the price just changed, sorry'. How about a gas station changing the price per gallon while you're in the middle of filling the tank?

OP - hopefully you can get screenshots, but nonetheless, you should file a formal complaint against Delta with the Federal Trade Commission.
Absolutely correct.

I understand that the price changes, but it is unconscionable for them to change the price on you right in the middle of the transaction.
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Old May 24, 2010, 11:22 am
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Originally Posted by bocastephen
No, this IS a total ripoff (and I've never, ever seen this happen on CO). Once you select your flights, that inventory space is being held for you - no one else can 'take your seat inventory' away. Your transaction needs to be completed in a reasonable amount of time or it will expire and the inventory goes back, but once you've selected your flights and have gotten to the point of entering passenger and payment information, the price should never change!

If I re-start my search, then the price can be different based on either fare changes or inventory changes.

If this occurs in the middle of a transaction, it's no different than a retail store marking an item $10, then ringing up at $20 and saying 'oops, the price just changed, sorry'. How about a gas station changing the price per gallon while you're in the middle of filling the tank?

OP - hopefully you can get screenshots, but nonetheless, you should file a formal complaint against Delta with the Federal Trade Commission.
Absolutely correct. And add a complaint to DOT.

Only reason I didn't is that the phone agent got me the same price & waived the phone booking fee - net, net, DL made it right.
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