Confusion w/ changing fare classes
 

Good morning, i've been looking at flights LGA->BTV for the better part of a week and was ready to pull the trigger on them earlier today.

I had been seeing tixx for $157 in fare class V. Now tixx are $188 in fare class X.

I totally recognize that flight prices change as more tickets are sold and we get closer to the date. What confuses me is that (per the seat maps) it doesnt appear that any more tickets had been sold in the meantime. The flight out is 100% empty and the flight back has all of 1 seat sold. Flights are more than 6 weeks out.

I'll buy the X fares if i have to but would prefer the V tixx if i can get them. Can I expect them to go back down? Is it possible Delta put 'cookies' on my cpu knowing that i'm looking at these flights and therefore upping the price? Could an increase in searches for tixx on this route for these dates cause Delta to raise the fare?

Or can I just wait a couple more days and hope for V availability?

Thanks :)

Clear your cookies and find out. Often fares have more to do with days until the flight than number of seats filled. The closer the flight, the higher the fare.

Clear and try again.

The seat map has nothing to do with seats sold. And, seats sold does not necessarily equate to fare classes available.

nope, still only showing X fares.

Oh well. $188 still isnt bad for any r/t flight and its cheaper than driving.

Revenue Management.

Depending on how risk averse you are, you might watch and wait a few more days, although Tuesday is usually considered a good day to buy a plane ticket.

following up - around 9pm last night i noticed flights were at $164 which I promptly purchased. They're now back to $178. Both last night and now are in the 'X' bucket.

I guess I had always assumed "X tickets cost $XXX, L tickets cost $XXXX, etc..." clearly i'm wrong.

DL can offer multiple X or whatever fares simultaneously. Some might have longer advanced purchase requirements, require particular times or routes, etc., even though they book into the same inventory class.