I was checking out a few possible destinations for next week and had decided on one when the prices went up. As I was booking the flight the price went up to over $500 above the original fare. It happened at midnight central time, and it's very odd. The fare from DTW to LAS went up over $500 for an economy ticket, and when I checked the DTW to CUN fare I had saved in another window, I saw that this fare had also gone up over $500! I didn't change any info (fare/class, etc.) and the prices listed are outrageous- and very strange. I then checked other fares I had written down and all of them had gone up drastically not only in price but the fare class- they had been low economy fares and are now listing higher.

Any possible explanations? I know that things change and change back, but so far these fares have stayed at their new much higher prices. I did check some of those websites like Expedia, etc., and all their fares with Continental are the original lower prices. I also checked other airlines and none of them have changed their fares on the routes I was looking at.

Just wondering if Continental fares have really gone up 60 percent in a few minutes, or if it's just one of those odd website issues?

If you saw the increase at midnight, it might be due to the advanced purchase restrictions on the fares you were looking at. Many fares require that you purchase the fare 1, 3, 7, or 14 days before your flight, and Continental calculates this to midnight central time. Thus, some of the fares you were looking at may have had a 7-day advanced purchase restriction which was not met once midnight passed.

However, this doesn't explain why Expedia/Orbitz would still show the lower prices (unless they calculate the advanced purchase restriction against midnight pacific time, but that would be strange).

Orbitz is notorious for showing you a fare and then displaying something akin to, "Oops it changed!" when you actually try to purchase what you see.

It happened to other routes as well, for example, yesterday the roundtrip fare between PHL-OAK was $198+ (L fare) for January and it shot up to $784+ (H fare) today.

Well, whatever it was, it has changed back. My fare to LAS is now back to the $274 it was at 11:59pm last night, and no longer over $828. I thought it had to be a glitch and even though I called tech support to ask what was going on and they didn't know, the fares I was looking at all were back down to what they were yesterday when I looked at them tonight. I don't know how long they stayed that high, but am very glad they dropped back to regular prices. I figured it had to be a mistake because every fare I tried out of DTW was ridiculously high- I mean, the prices were over $800 to go anywhere, even if I changed the dates.

I'm very happy to report that the economy seats are back to normal (at least the ones I was looking at) and I booked my flight right away in case they go up at midnight Central time again tonight. In fact, I should stay awake and see if they DO go up again.

I don't ever book through expedia or orbitz b/c I am trying to get to Plat status for next year so I always book through continental.com, but it was interesting that all of those sites had the lower prices throughout the night and today.

Maybe CO is trying to target the people who are up late booking flights? Who knows, but I am glad they're back to reasonable prices!

Or maybe they are targeting people wide awake in Europe booking last minute connections in the US.

LOL- I never rule anything out. What got me was the woman I spoke to at Continental last night. When I explained what had happened, she kept putting me on hold as if to check out my story. I think she thought I was trying to get away with something and she was more than bordering on rude when she asked me if I had completed my purchase before the fare changed. Well, obviously not- if I had completed it, I wouldn't be calling! Then she told me the flight I had been looking at was showing full- no seats left. Imagine my surprise when I booked that very same flight a few hours ago and there were plenty of seats open. It was a very strange night!