"Looks like there's high demand for this flight." gives us more money.
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2016
Programs: Delta Diamond Million Miler. Hilton Diamond
Posts: 15
"Looks like there's high demand for this flight." gives us more money.
Am I the only one that ever gets this message when booking a Delta flight? Book a flight at the web price or miles on the website, go through all the steps, hit pay and then they are asking for $75 more dollars or 10,000 more miles. It has happen to me 5 time this year, so today I booked a flight on JetBlue.
#2
Join Date: May 2015
Location: DCA
Programs: AA EXP, DL FO, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 6,709
Am I the only one that ever gets this message when booking a Delta flight? Book a flight at the web price or miles on the website, go through all the steps, hit pay and then they are asking for $75 more dollars or 10,000 more miles. It has happen to me 5 time this year, so today I booked a flight on JetBlue.
#3
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Georgia
Programs: DL DM/2MM
Posts: 1,029
Has anyone had any luck getting it repriced?
My explanation of what goes wrong is this: the reservation system and the booking system are separate. This is why, when you go to purchase a flight, you sometimes get an error message. It's only at that point that it checks up-to-the-moment inventory in the booking system. The quote that the reservation system gives you may be minutes or even hours old, and in the meantime a cheaper fare class could have sold out.
But this is only my interpretation of what's happening. I'd like to know if DL will actually honor the lower fare.
My explanation of what goes wrong is this: the reservation system and the booking system are separate. This is why, when you go to purchase a flight, you sometimes get an error message. It's only at that point that it checks up-to-the-moment inventory in the booking system. The quote that the reservation system gives you may be minutes or even hours old, and in the meantime a cheaper fare class could have sold out.
But this is only my interpretation of what's happening. I'd like to know if DL will actually honor the lower fare.
#4
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: NYC
Programs: DL PM, Marriott/Hilton Gold
Posts: 33
Data point for your consideration.
A few weeks ago, I was working on booking a domestic flight. I found the fare I wanted, but got the same page. This time, the price offered was nearly twice what was advertised. I tried again a few hours later, same results--low price in the search result, but 2x on the "high demand" page.
With my fingers crossed, I called Reservations. I gave the CSR the flight numbers and they encountered the same problem. The CSR then called someone else (tech support?). When she came back on, she told me she was able to offer me the tickets at the advertised price I wanted.
As a lowly FO, I thought there was no way I was going to convince them to honor the advertised price.
A few weeks ago, I was working on booking a domestic flight. I found the fare I wanted, but got the same page. This time, the price offered was nearly twice what was advertised. I tried again a few hours later, same results--low price in the search result, but 2x on the "high demand" page.
With my fingers crossed, I called Reservations. I gave the CSR the flight numbers and they encountered the same problem. The CSR then called someone else (tech support?). When she came back on, she told me she was able to offer me the tickets at the advertised price I wanted.
As a lowly FO, I thought there was no way I was going to convince them to honor the advertised price.
#5
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: NYC
Programs: AA LT G (1MM);DL G, UA GM
Posts: 2,028
#6
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. / Washington, DC
Programs: AA PPro/DL PLT, PPass, Marriott / Hilton Gold, JetBlue Mosaic, Hertz Presidents Circle, Amex Plat
Posts: 4,628
Had a lot of issues this past Monday trying to book a multi-city Europe-US-South America-Caribbean-Europe itinerary. Every time the credit card payment was processing, it was interrupted and asked me for twice the price originally quoted. Kayak, ITA, Google flights quoted the original price, as well as expedia, but could not book. Tried to book by phone but the agent could not see the original fare, and my travel agent was unable to price the fare even though she could see the original price and the availability.
Had to add an extra stop to the itinerary in order to get the original fare at dl.com.
DL will not honor the lower fare (At least to a Gold/Almost Platinum Medallion and a Silver/Almost Gold Medallion). The best way to go about it is to contact a travel agent, who will find a work around.
Had to add an extra stop to the itinerary in order to get the original fare at dl.com.
DL will not honor the lower fare (At least to a Gold/Almost Platinum Medallion and a Silver/Almost Gold Medallion). The best way to go about it is to contact a travel agent, who will find a work around.
#7
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 1,875
FWIF, Delta eliminated all direct ticketing charges:
http://news.delta.com/delta-cuts-tic...oney-customers
http://news.delta.com/delta-cuts-tic...oney-customers
#8
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: US, Germany
Programs: United, Delta
Posts: 1
After some googling I came across this thread and found that it's relatively new, so I wanted to keep it going...
This "bait and switch" that Delta is doing is still going on. Booked a multi-city trip (Europe, South America, US) and the original price quoted by aggregators and the Delta website itself was 900€... After putting in my information, credit card, everything and clicking purchase: "...high demand [blah blah blah]... new fare is 1000€" -_-
Called Delta customer service to see if they might see a different price and they quoted me even higher at $1130 (~1050€).
This "bait and switch" that Delta is doing is still going on. Booked a multi-city trip (Europe, South America, US) and the original price quoted by aggregators and the Delta website itself was 900€... After putting in my information, credit card, everything and clicking purchase: "...high demand [blah blah blah]... new fare is 1000€" -_-
Called Delta customer service to see if they might see a different price and they quoted me even higher at $1130 (~1050€).
#9
Join Date: Feb 2016
Programs: DL DM, SPG Plat 100/LT Gold, Marriott Plat, National Executive Elite
Posts: 2,988
After some googling I came across this thread and found that it's relatively new, so I wanted to keep it going...
This "bait and switch" that Delta is doing is still going on. Booked a multi-city trip (Europe, South America, US) and the original price quoted by aggregators and the Delta website itself was 900€... After putting in my information, credit card, everything and clicking purchase: "...high demand [blah blah blah]... new fare is 1000€" -_-
Called Delta customer service to see if they might see a different price and they quoted me even higher at $1130 (~1050€).
This "bait and switch" that Delta is doing is still going on. Booked a multi-city trip (Europe, South America, US) and the original price quoted by aggregators and the Delta website itself was 900€... After putting in my information, credit card, everything and clicking purchase: "...high demand [blah blah blah]... new fare is 1000€" -_-
Called Delta customer service to see if they might see a different price and they quoted me even higher at $1130 (~1050€).
so they likely were seeing the new higher fare too
#10
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: ZRH / SEA, DL PM
Posts: 1,142
I wish there was consumer protection law which would require airlines/expedia/etc honour the advertised price as long as there a seat in requires cabin. If their is higher demand and booking class is sold out by the time you click "purchase" (or more common: they cached availability long time ago and did not bother to update before displaying results) they should eat up the difference.
#12
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 3,394
I wish there was consumer protection law which would require airlines/expedia/etc honour the advertised price as long as there a seat in requires cabin. If their is higher demand and booking class is sold out by the time you click "purchase" (or more common: they cached availability long time ago and did not bother to update before displaying results) they should eat up the difference.
Not a horrible idea, but I think it would be very unwieldy in practice...how long would a person have? If I search for tickets and it shows $500, and then I go to dinner, and come back an hour later, leaving the purchase screen up that still shows $500, but now it's $600, is that fair? There would have to be some kind of countdown like you get with concert tickets...doable, but then you're going to get people screaming about high pressure tactics from airlines. Does they airline eat the cost, does the website, is it a combo?
What about odd spikes in demand...think about how many ATL, GRB, PIT, & BOS to IAH/HOU tickets where just one click away at the start of the AFC & NFL championship games respectively.
There is a lot more variables for airline tickets than for most other consumer products.
If I'm looking at a flight with a connection, someone else is looking at the same originating flight but a different connection, while at the same time a third person is looking at the same connecting flight I am with a different origination how do we decide priority? Wouldn't airlines/travel sites give the priority to the more expensive ticket, forcing others into higher fare buckets?
When Amazon tells me there is 6 of something left, I'm only "competing" with people looking for the exact same product I am.
Is it theoretically doable, yes, but I don't think it's just a simple as enforcing some type of guarantee.
#13
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 1
Just a quick comment to let everyone know that this "glitch" is still going on with Delta.
I got the "high demand" message just after entering my credit card details, and was offered a fare that was 20% higher than what I'd been booking up to that point. First time around, I believed the message. I know that airfares can change quickly, and I figured I was just unlucky. I was almost tempted just to eat the extra cost because I didn't want to go back to the beginning and have to re-enter all my family's details, choose seats again, etc.
But I like to save money. So I went back to the beginning and chose a different flight that had the same fare as my first choice. Oh good, I thought, I'll be able to get this low airfare after all. But guess what happened. Yes, this flight was also in "high demand" with a 20% premium. At this point I felt like I was getting scammed.
Normally, I'd start looking for a different airline, but I'm using some big Delta vouchers. My wife called them and spent about 45 minutes having them manually re-enter all the details. Whaddaya know? The fare we paid over the phone ended up being the same amount as what was advertised at the beginning of the process. That's how it should be.
There is little doubt in my mind that this is intentional and that they easily make a few extra tens of thousands every day from chumps. Call it "bait and switch" or "false advertising" or whatever. But the moral of the story is that if you have to fly Delta, make your arrangements the old fashioned way, and keep one eye on your wallet.
I got the "high demand" message just after entering my credit card details, and was offered a fare that was 20% higher than what I'd been booking up to that point. First time around, I believed the message. I know that airfares can change quickly, and I figured I was just unlucky. I was almost tempted just to eat the extra cost because I didn't want to go back to the beginning and have to re-enter all my family's details, choose seats again, etc.
But I like to save money. So I went back to the beginning and chose a different flight that had the same fare as my first choice. Oh good, I thought, I'll be able to get this low airfare after all. But guess what happened. Yes, this flight was also in "high demand" with a 20% premium. At this point I felt like I was getting scammed.
Normally, I'd start looking for a different airline, but I'm using some big Delta vouchers. My wife called them and spent about 45 minutes having them manually re-enter all the details. Whaddaya know? The fare we paid over the phone ended up being the same amount as what was advertised at the beginning of the process. That's how it should be.
There is little doubt in my mind that this is intentional and that they easily make a few extra tens of thousands every day from chumps. Call it "bait and switch" or "false advertising" or whatever. But the moral of the story is that if you have to fly Delta, make your arrangements the old fashioned way, and keep one eye on your wallet.
#14
Moderator: Hyatt; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: WAS
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There is little doubt in my mind that this is intentional and that they easily make a few extra tens of thousands every day from chumps. Call it "bait and switch" or "false advertising" or whatever. But the moral of the story is that if you have to fly Delta, make your arrangements the old fashioned way, and keep one eye on your wallet.
This could be due to cached results; but in one case I got the same "prices have gone up" over a period of several days, so that couldn't have been the explanation. But I have subsequently seen where ITA puts together an itinerary for a much lower price because it is not taking married segments into account, and an EF search shows that the full trip is not available in the indicated booking class.
I agree in the latter case it would be nice if DL figured that out on the first page rather than the checkout page that what you're trying to do does not have inventory or violates fare rules, but I don't think it rises to the level of "scam".
Welcome to FlyerTalk, in any case