and this didn't get posted to GDE thread because...? :p;)

I am certain they don't change the fares based on each query (airlines typically only submit fare changes to their GDS a few times a day).

I think it's highly unlikely they customize available inventory for each searcher. Remember, a very significant amount of searches come from non-UA channel via one of the GDS. I don't know/think the GDS passes though the customer but rather just queries UA's reservation system for inventory.

I think what is far more likely is that the website engine just gets confused and isn't properly doing it's own query to UA's reservation system. I assume that the website and associated backend runs separate from the actual reservation system and interfaces with it just like any other travel agent. I would guess that the problem with variable pricing is either with how the website searches for inventory within the reservation system or how it displays the result.

If you're checking a few hours or few days apart it's very likely that seats are being sold, seats are being returned (via changes or cancelations), and the IM algorithms are adjusting inventories. IME, it's highly unusual for inventories to remain static for several hours (especially in the lower buckets on popular routes). I would expect that the IM algorithms span multiple flights, multiple dates, and multiple routes. So, if UA is seeing activity on the same route at a different time or similar route (maybe LAX-HNL) I expect their IM system may fiddle with your target route based on that activity.

Ok..I was just trying to look for some reason why the price jumped..:p

Sorry, didn't even think of it. When UA does this, typically three or four days prior to departure, it only lasts for a few hours. Then they return to selling M fares and higher.

From my own experience over too many years of fare shopping, regular checking does not effect the fares. Supply and demand are the real drivers of prices. That said, I usually find the lowest fares about 90 days out from my departure date. If I have a long time line I check a few times a week until I hit 90 days out, then I start checking daily. sometimes a few times a day. It is not science but that is what has worked for me time and time again

To create the perception of growing scarcity.

No. If that were the case next-day tickets would be the cheapest and you would incent late bookings. Dynamically raised prices well in advance of the flying day should incent earlier bookings.

I never know whether those "Only 1 Seat Left at This Price!" flags are nonsense or not, either, but I'm sure they encourage fence-sitters to pull the trigger for the same reason.

I think some of this may be the result of seats being held back from sale once you've got as far as the booking page. I've had seats vanish from flights months out when I've been checking a bunch of things, and the system then begins to offer me a higher fare bucket. Not a higher price for the same bucket, but a higher fare class.

Once I completely close out of my session an start over everything returns to what I'd been seeing when I began my search.

My theory is that the inventory was being held in anticipation that I'd complete the purchase process and is not released back into inventory until the session is closed.

I'm just being facetious :) I've leveraged the firesale trend many times myself without posting about it.

I always check ITA - especially when buying more than one ticket. ITA will split out the individual ticket prices if you exceed what's available in the cheapest bucket.

Most likely simply because people are buying tickets. As stated above, the seat map cannot be used to determine whether people are buying or not.

Agree. I've been watching a certain TATL itinerary for several weeks now, and the price has remained the same every time I've checked it.

Before the merger, I used to see prices higher on the weekend and lower on Tuesdays, but even that has seemed to go away.

Well.

For all we know, revenue-management might be using "volume of GDS queries" as an input when it decides which inventory buckets to open/close. That process is so incredibly opaque that I do not find this impossible.

It is true that many consumers do not understand how fares are published, how inventory works, how to see live inventory, or how to understand why they are being offered a certain price for a certain trip. With an essentially poor mental model (and no incentive for airlines to make it better) it's not surprise that consumers think that things like "clearing their browser state" will affect prices offered online.

This is why "Farelock" and more so "pay with cash" are your friends;)

Well, something cookiewise (if there is such a word) is going on. After I check fares/schedules on the UA app, I sometimes get pop-ups regarding the same destination in random places on other unrelated websites. And indeed, I think the UA app specifically mentions something about lack of privacy when you do such a search.

Sure, this is "remarketing". Vendors will show ads that are related closely to Web sites you've shown recently. Take a look at the search results for [abandoned cart remarketing] to see more about this genre.