Flights to go up or down in price to States for March?

Therapysucks

I'm dragging the family to San Diego next March. I first priced flights last month but didn't book coz wasn't sure if trip was a runner. Since then prices have risen by about €200 per person. Should I buy now and take the hit before the hit gets much worse. Or is there a chance prices for that time (it's off-peak) will fall? How does the pricing system work, anyone know?

InKonspikuou2

About 3 years ago i booked flights to LA from Dublin with Aer Lingus in January. Went the end of February. I got them for 350 return. Just got the 4 hour bus down to San Diego. So could be worth checking out the LA option if flying into San Diego isn't a must.

4zn76tysfajdxp

Moved from After Hours.

Alun

The missus was travelling back and forth to San Diego a lot last year, and came to the conclusion that Aer Lingus to San Francisco, and then fly to San Diego was the best option by far. Other options usually involve flying to some random ****hole of a hub in central or mid-western USA that at that time of the year is more than likely going to be affected by bad weather of some sort with accompanying delays. Not sure whether Aer Lingus still fly to SF though, but LA would be a good alternative assuming you can get flights from there to SD.

Chris_533976

Try clearing the cookies from your internet cache, or book on another computer. I'm hearing rumours that flight prices go up depending on how often you look at the website.

Therapysucks

Cheers for that cache clear tip. Unbelieveable, saved me over €100 per person on travelsupermarket.com. That's very cheeky of them, upping the prices based on your number of visits. I'll clear cache anytime I'm pricing something on-line from here on in. Nice one - thanks.

chewed

Chris_533976 wrote: »

Try clearing the cookies from your internet cache, or book on another computer. I'm hearing rumours that flight prices go up depending on how often you look at the website.

Surely this is illegal?

Therapysucks

chewed wrote: »

Surely this is illegal?

You'd think so wouldn't you? But the evidence suggests it's happening. Seriously, the difference for us for a family of four for return flights to San Diego in March was about €400 on travelsupermarket.com after clearing the cache.

Where can complaints about this sort of rip-off be made?

Fratton Fred

Therapysucks wrote: »

You'd think so wouldn't you? But the evidence suggests it's happening. Seriously, the difference for us for a family of four for return flights to San Diego in March was about €400 on travelsupermarket.com after clearing the cache.

Where can complaints about this sort of rip-off be made?

It's not a rip off, it is just the airlines trying to maximise their revenue.

It is all to do with price points and the number of people the airline expect to buy tickets at each price point. Ryanair are masters at this and this is how they manage to sell tickets at effectively below cost.

Therapysucks

Fratton Fred wrote: »

It's not a rip off, it is just the airlines trying to maximise their revenue.

It is all to do with price points and the number of people the airline expect to buy tickets at each price point. Ryanair are masters at this and this is how they manage to sell tickets at effectively below cost.

But it's not the airline doing it, it's a supposedly independent price comparison site selling itself as offering the cheapest flights. If I check a number of times what a price is and see it is increasing I might be inclined to buy the ticket at that price even though there are cheaper ones available (but I don't know this) - all because the independent provider has gauged that I am definitely interested as I have visited more than at once. That is manipulation of info (ie a memory of previous visits) without following through on their customer charter, to provide the cheapest quote possible.

Fratton Fred

Therapysucks wrote: »

But it's not the airline doing it, it's a supposedly independent price comparison site selling itself as offering the cheapest flights. If I check a number of times what a price is and see it is increasing I might be inclined to buy the ticket at that price even though there are cheaper ones available (but I don't know this) - all because the independent provider has gauged that I am definitely interested as I have visited more than at once. That is manipulation of info (ie a memory of previous visits) without following through on their customer charter, to provide the cheapest quote possible.

Aah, Gotcha. I thought youwere booking direct.

personally, i never use these sites. They are great for getting a rough idea, but i always book direct with the airline. I don't see how you can get cheaper flights by putting in a middleman.

I use skyscanner.net by the way, i find they are the most accurate.

also, all these sites are doing is making an offer to sell, so they are not ripping you off as such because you don't have to accept their offer, you can always shop around.

Therapysucks

Thanks for that Fred. I'll give skyscanner a go.

denmar

Oh my God, I didn't realise this was possible. i have been looking at flights to Orlando in July and they have gone up by €400 for 3 of us. I have been pricing on the airline website though so what you have said shouldn't apply should it ? Also should I hold off on booking in the hope that the flights will come down or not risk it ? I was moniotoring it for July and August this year and I don't thisnk the prices came down atall.

Tippex

to be honest orlando (june - August) rule of thumb the only way prices go are up. The only way they will start going down is if people dont travel (not likely or due to a massive over capacity)

denmar

Just been searching there and the cheapest I can get is Orbitz @ $2700 which is good but I have never used Orbitz before and am a bit unsure. Are they OK to book with. Since they are american I wonder if they will let me book from Ireland ?

Tippex

what dates are you looking at?
and is it 3 adults?

denmar

July 24 to Aug 7 2 adults and a 15 year old out of Shannon

Therapysucks

Never heard of Orbitz til you mentioned them, but just checked them out and there doesn't seem to be any problem with booking from here.

denmar

Yea spose it would be Ok and I guess once you have your e-ticket printed off then the airline would have to honour it or would they ? I have always booked direvtly with the airline - it just feels more comfortable.

Therapysucks

I've used third party sites for flights, hotels and car hire and have always got better deals that way. You wind up paying the service provider (airline, hotel or car hire firm) anyway, just at the rate the site negotiated with them. I had one occasion in a hotel in Galway where they didn't at first believe the website had sold the deal so cheaply, but I was able to pull out the receipt, and you have an email and credit card trail, and they had to honour it.

denmar

Yea and the saving is significent - enough to pay for the car hire. thanks so much for the opinions and advice. Will go for it then!