Why do MAN fares keep fluctuating?? How risky is it to play the wait-game?
Jun 4, 2006, 7:14 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: London, UK
Posts: 150
Why do MAN fares keep fluctuating?? How risky is it to play the wait-game?
Moderator: Pls move this thread to an appropriate forum if this is not the right place for it. Thanks.
Pardon me if this is a dumb question. I've been looking at economy fares to MAN for July first fortnight preferably from DCA/IAD, but am willing to start my journey from the NYC metro area (EWR/JFK) for the sake of easier ticket availability. I'm not in a position to finalize my plans up until later this week so for the past few days I've been only "window-shopping" for prospective fares. I'd like to stick w/SkyTeam, but understand it may not be completely possible. I'm aware of CO's service from EWR and Delta's service from JFK. Over the past week or so I have noticed Delta fares fluctuate betn $500 to >$700 roundtrip. AA fares have consistently been in the range of $520-$530.
I'm wondering how good of an idea is it to keep checking fares even after I've finalized my trip plans, in the hopes that DL fares will again come back somewhere near $500??
Do any of the well-travelled folks out here know what are the possible reasons for these fluctuating DL fares and if it makes sense to play the wait-game? My spontaneous answer is no, but would like to tap the FT think-tank!!
I usually use farechase.yahoo.com to search for fares - that site covers pretty much all the airline websites as well as Orbitz and such. Are there any websites that folks might recommend for fares to UK?
Thanks for any suggestions.
PS: For what its worth, my preferred travel dates would be 7/7-7/16. Willing to leave the US a day or two later if it helps w/fares.
Pardon me if this is a dumb question. I've been looking at economy fares to MAN for July first fortnight preferably from DCA/IAD, but am willing to start my journey from the NYC metro area (EWR/JFK) for the sake of easier ticket availability. I'm not in a position to finalize my plans up until later this week so for the past few days I've been only "window-shopping" for prospective fares. I'd like to stick w/SkyTeam, but understand it may not be completely possible. I'm aware of CO's service from EWR and Delta's service from JFK. Over the past week or so I have noticed Delta fares fluctuate betn $500 to >$700 roundtrip. AA fares have consistently been in the range of $520-$530.
I'm wondering how good of an idea is it to keep checking fares even after I've finalized my trip plans, in the hopes that DL fares will again come back somewhere near $500??
Do any of the well-travelled folks out here know what are the possible reasons for these fluctuating DL fares and if it makes sense to play the wait-game? My spontaneous answer is no, but would like to tap the FT think-tank!!
I usually use farechase.yahoo.com to search for fares - that site covers pretty much all the airline websites as well as Orbitz and such. Are there any websites that folks might recommend for fares to UK?
Thanks for any suggestions.
PS: For what its worth, my preferred travel dates would be 7/7-7/16. Willing to leave the US a day or two later if it helps w/fares.
Jun 4, 2006, 7:25 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Atlanta, GA, USA
Programs: Frontier Gold, DL estranged 1MMer, Spirit VIP, CO/NW/UA/AA once gold/plat/comped gold now dust.
Posts: 38,151
From ATL at least, MAN tends to be one of the softer markets across the pond, often drawing spot specials. Airlines don't really WANT to do the specials, but will do them with short windows for flying (usually just 6 weeks or less into the future) and often with day/time or other restrictions, depending on where the seats are that they want to fill. They want to fill specific flights where sales are slow without doing a real sale.
A clue might be found here if you look at the specific possible flights by availability by class. If you see lots of 9s next to the letters across the board it indicates there are still lots of unsold seats. It's usually pretty tight if you see lots of zeroes.
A clue might be found here if you look at the specific possible flights by availability by class. If you see lots of 9s next to the letters across the board it indicates there are still lots of unsold seats. It's usually pretty tight if you see lots of zeroes.