Daytrader

I just booked a trip to Chicago. Fares are much cheaper on Travelocity than their own website, Travelocity.com

Wonder why.

Superguy

There has been some talk that if you login with your DM number and search that fares will be higher. I haven't verified that though.

We have a thread discussing it.

JimLtravels

I just checked travelocity, my fares were the sameas on us airways web site

alanh

Prices have been going up lately. It's possible that there was a lag getting the new fares into Travelocity, though sometimes that just gets you a "the fare has changed" when you actually try to book.

AlohaDaveKennedy

US Airways would never do that, banks wouldn't game the LIBOR rate, CEOs wouldn't lie on their resumes and the Queen of England would never do a sleep over at my cousin's house!

tommyleo

First of all -- for anyone who suspects that US is suddenly doing something sketchy -- this practice is nothing new. I've noticed this for many years.

Second, the explanation typically has something to do with "fare buckets." For example, Travelocity may have entered into an agreement with US to sell, say, ten seats at a certain price for that flight. If those seats have not sold quickly on Travelocity but the same price seat in that "fare bucket" on US's site have already sold out, the fares will be cheaper on Travelocity until Travelocity sells those ten seats. You're think that all those same-priced seats are linked between the various sites -- but that doesn't seem to be the case at all.

Similarly, if you search for the same US flight on UA's site, you might also find cheaper fares on UA's site for the same reason: US's codeshare agreement with UA for that flight might have been for UA to sell 10 seats at a certain price.

The main takeaway is that you should always check other sites for lower fares when booking a flight!

audio-nut

Do you have any evidence that suggests that US is selling blocks of seats to OTA's? I find that explanation unbelievable. It's most likely that inventory and/or fares are slightly out of sync. When a carrier changes or adds a fare in ATPCO it does not hit all the sites at the same exact moment which can cause differences. Inventory can also get out of sync depending on how they message classes opening or closing.

I also doubt US sells blocks to UA especially on domestic routes. It is probably that UA has a lower fare filed on the codeshare. While this is not allowed it happens fairly frequently.

CPRich

I just checked a flight I need to take in October on Travelocity, us.com not logged in, and us.com logged in. All identical.