Hello to all:
I noticed that anytime I am trying to buy a ticket at delta.com, the system first finds me a good price, but then before I find out whether or not I can take time off at work -- the price changes (up) and/or the routing/timing changes and my original flight is no more there. It happens so often, that I began to wonder whether there is any conspiration behind it, like watching how many times a certain search takes place, so the company raises the price to make more profit.
I often choose another routing etc. (even though the options got so very limited in last couple of years), but today I am thinking of planning another trip and the same thing has happened. I am planning well ahead (6 months), so there should be plenty of availability.
I find a nice RT flight yesterday PRG-AMS-DTW-DCA on 28th of December, beginning the flight at 6:50 am on DL 9597, then DL 620 and DL 2144. The price is good, and actually lower than the first price chart claimed when I chose "flexible dates" (17485 CZK = ca. $872)
Anyway, when I returned a day later - to search with the price preference as always, Delta only offers a DIFFERENT flight - via CDG and DTW: DL 8589, DL 8572, DL 2427 with a later departure (9:50 AM), leaving little time to make transfers, immigration and lounges. Also, the price is $17 higher (17786 CZK = ca. $889).
THE QUESTION IS:
Why did my original search DISAPPEAR? It no more appears in the results and thus is impossible to book.
BUT: @:-) When I search multi-city and enter the routing PRG-AMS-DTW-CDG, I still can find the original plan and even original PRICE! :-:
This leaves me very confused. Any thoughts on the mysteries of booking? Do airlines watch the frequency of searches on particular flights? Is there a flaw that makes the wanted itinerary disappear after a number of searches? What can possibly cause this situation - and is there another solution better than immediately printing everything out and then manually search for the original itinerary? Your thoughts and suggestion are appreciated.