I know I'm not the first to mention this...but I thought the practice had been discontinued, it was a thing of the past.
Last night I was looking for a r/t SRQ-GUA in January. Best price for my time frame was $533 on DL.com (actually $518 for same tix from Orbitz). An hour later I go back in to DL.com and the price has gone up to $576, but still $518 on the O. Two hours later (and a few minutes before midnight) and my third attempt, and the price on DL.com has now gone up to $619! [note: I had cleaned my cookies, but I guess the ISP shows as the same]
So I went to the other computer in the house, where I have a ISP proxy, and I check the DL.com site and voila! the fare is $533.
Anyone else have this happen with DL lately? Bottom line is I put a hold on a TPA-GUA flight for $473 via AA, which never budged in price no matter how many times I queried.
I was booking tickets yesterday, and soon after I put in my credit card details, the price jumps up by ~$90. Wouldn't be surprised to see something similar happen when you try to book the lower fare.
There were issues earlier this year regarding something similar where DL would show a higher price to elites if they were logged in. Supposedly fixed, but with the recent changes to the website I don't trust anything there and I certainly wouldn't put it past them.
I know that searching for award travel can jack up the price due to the perceived 'demand' by the booking system, but that is not cookie dependent.
Its also possible that you saw prices fluctuate as DL was messing with their inventory buckets or loading new fares.
This has happened to me a few times when trying to use eCerts on the new website, when entered the price just jumps to make the eCert useless. I know that many are hesitant to use it but I am a google.com/flights convert, it uses the ita software but allows you to redirect to DL.crap
This has happened to me a few times when trying to use eCerts on the new website, when entered the price just jumps to make the eCert useless. I know that many are hesitant to use it but I am a google.com/flights convert, it uses the ita software but allows you to redirect to DL.crap
eCerts often have restrictions on which flights they can be used and base fare requirements. This is not surprising at all.
I agree, but I called DL several times and they confirmed that they had no restrictions and it was a glitch, just booked it over the phone at that point.
Yes, absolutely! I am 100% CONVINCED that *they* (Delta, travelocity and other booking engines) are tracking what's searched for and then raising the fares an hour or two after you search.
Two weeks ago, I found a cheap flight to the DC area for May. Found a great fare to IAD. Didn't book it because I needed to verify the dates with my parents, who will be joining me on this trip. I didn't hear back from them for about two hours. When I did, they said, "Yeah! Book it."
So I went back to Travelocity to book it and low and behold, the price jumped $200. I was so pissed. Being that May is still far, far away, I didn't feel so bad, figuring I could get it cheaper. Cleared my cookies, still didn't work.
I had my parents try searching Travelocity, Delta, Expedia, etc but they got the same fare too.
This week, did the search again. IAD was still the same high price but BWI was VERY low -- as in lower than I've ever seen it. I quick called my parents and discussed how BWI is inconvenient, but for that fare, it's probably worth it. They said book it.
By this time, my session had expired so I did the search again. Luckily, same price. So I tried actually booking it and low and behold, they raised the price again on me by $80 when I went to enter my CC. I could still get on an earlier flight home out of BWI for that same fare, but that wouldn't work for us. Only the exact routing that I wanted was raised.
Later that night, while at home, I did another search but chose dates another week out. Sure enough, I got the same cheap fare with the same routing that I wanted, only a week later. I booked it on the spot.
Programs: DL PM, A3 Gold, TK Elite, SPG Plat, HH Diamond, Hyatt Plat, National EE
Posts: 886
So you think Delta, who fly nearly half a million people per day (and sell the tickets to maintain this), is monitoring what you search for, and adjusting their pricing accordingly after a delay of 1-2 hours?
Programs: Duke of Bombay, Delta Ham Sandwich tm, Delta's Glitch
Posts: 3,826
Quote:
Originally Posted by mattsteg
So you think Delta, who fly nearly half a million people per day (and sell the tickets to maintain this), is monitoring what you search for, and adjusting their pricing accordingly after a delay of 1-2 hours?
Seems a bit of an overreach to me.
I have 2 Star Wars fans in IT who could write this up in a day...
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I don't always drink beer, but when I do... I drink a lot...
Nevermind that this would open DL and the sites to billions in class-action lawsuits. Usually there's an explanation when someone bothers to post an actual example with dates, flights #'s, and fare classes --- lack of fare bucket availability, quoting a broken fare (in the WCCO story), a fare rule violation, etc.
Programs: Duke of Bombay, Delta Ham Sandwich tm, Delta's Glitch
Posts: 3,826
Quote:
Originally Posted by LBJ
Nevermind that this would open DL and the sites to billions in class-action lawsuits. Usually there's an explanation when someone bothers to post an actual example with dates, flights #'s, and fare classes --- lack of fare bucket availability, quoting a broken fare (in the WCCO story), a fare rule violation, etc.
They said it would take two days to add plausible deniability....
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I don't always drink beer, but when I do... I drink a lot...
Booked a TATL trip where the return leg was in L. A day later, a friend booked the same trip and got the return in U (about $100 savings). I make a dummy booking on my main computer, and the return is now in K (over $200 more than my original ticket). Checked it from another computer, and sure enough U was available.
This was all within 24 hours of the original ticket, so I was able to get it reissued.
They said it would take two days to add plausible deniability....
+1
Its simple to do, and DL already does this to an extent with award tickets when determining the mileage level to sell. Not only that, it would be nearly impossible for consumers to prove that it was done maliciously to extra more money from us.
