Refund price difference if ticket price drops?
 

Does any airline offer to refund the price difference should the price of the ticket drop from now until the day you fly?

I have heard of this happening (albeit in very limited circumstances) and find it a little bizarre. Would anyone accept paying extra should the fares rise after booking and paying?

To answer (or rather not answer) I'm not aware of any current 'deals' along these lines (not to say there aren't any). It would be nice, but not something I would be expecting. :)

Once I've booked and paid for a fare I tend not to check back later, to avoid disappointment. ;)

With its lack of change fees, Southwest is the main game in town for being able to benefit from price drops (of course, you'll just get a travel voucher unless you bought a fully refundable fare). I hear Jetblue is also generally willing to work with people (but I have no personal experience with that).

Alaska Airlines has a Price Guarantee policy that if you purchase a ticket on alaskaair.com and find a lower price on alaskaair.com for the same flight and itinerary any time before your departure, you can get the difference in a refund or a credit you can apply to your next flight. http://www.alaskaair.com/content/dea...guarantee.aspx

No. They also don't ask you to pay the difference if prices increase between the time you buy and the day you fly.

Some airlines will permit you to rebook at the lower rate, if you pay a change fee. The change fee (often $100+) will usually exceed any price drops.

Southwest does offer full credit (no change fee) on future travel if you cancel a ticket, but I'm not familiar with the details on this. If there is a delay receiving the credit, you won't be able to use it toward the immediately rebooked ticket.

Almost all carriers offer fully refundable fares. If the price drops, you can cancel and rebook without cost. However, those fares are vastly more expensive (often 9-10x) the cost of a deeply discounted fare. The chances that your fare will drop so drastically that it is worthwhile are slim.

price guarantee
 

Alaska airlines does it all the (best airline as far as I am concerned). If you sign up for the Tripit pro app it will monitor your fare and tell you if your fare qualifies for a lower fare automatically.

JetBlue does do this (though as previously mentioned it is in the form of a travel credit). It is quite simple, though you do need to be a member of their Frequent Flyer program and also need to call them. There are no change fees when doing this, and you can do it multiple times up until your departure. You have a year to use the credit.

Did it once on delta on a 1st class ticket, price difference of 900 dollars made spending the 150 change fee well worth the 750 credit.

In my experience:
-Delta will but you pay a $150 change fee (so if price drops 150 or less its useless)
-Southwest has free cancellations so they do if you cancel and rebook
-Airtran issues you a credit if the price drops. (I did this once over the phone and it took maybe 5 minutes for $80 back)

I've done it with Southwest. You don't actually cancel the flight and rebook it, instead you change the flight, but choose the exact same flights (at the lower price), so it's same PNR and everything, and you get the credit to use towards a future flight. The credit has to be used within 1 year of booking the original flight. It was a relatively painless process and I was able to do everything online, including using the credit for another flight.

Have done this with AA in the past. The price dropped $800 so it made the $150 change fee worth it.

I fly Alaska and have done this many, many times........

Many of them do, but unlike in the past where there was no fee, besides the airlines already mentioned, most of them charge a change fee, so the drop has to be pretty great.

Hotels and car rentals however will usually allow you to change the reservation to the lower price as long as it was not a prepaid thing.

AS, WN, FL and B6 do it for free in the form of a travel credit. You won't get cash back but you can use the credit for another ticket. Most others do it for a fee, generally $150 for a domestic US flight though it can vary.

Once you get outside the USA the answer is actually often just plain "no" on the cheapest fares, even those sold by US-based carriers where comparable fares originating in the USA would have the penalty but be changeable.