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02-20-2006, 02:39 PM
|  | Usagi Yojimbo | | Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: The Birthplace of American Democracy
Posts: 16,412
| | Airline Ticket Prices, the next generation | |
Next up, the ability to see graphs of when it is best to buy airline tickets. So you not only plan where to buy for the best price, but easily choose when it is best to buy. http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/02/20...ine-ticketing/
__________________ Aces Full of Links is Dr. Momentum's blog
Sooner or later, people are going to figure out if all you run is negative attack ads you don't have much of a vision for the future or you're not ready to articulate it. |
02-20-2006, 07:35 PM
|  | Rockin The Suburbs | | Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Chantilly, VA
Posts: 8,759
| | Re Airline Ticket Prices, the next generation | |
Interesting premise. I have interviewed dozens of airline pricing people for jobs with me. I gotta tell you -- as much as we like to say there is science involved (there is some), there is an awful lot of art.
Prime example: Do I chase US Airways into PHL if they've got a cut-rate from PHX since those are the new joint America West-US Airways hubs. Or if I'm Frontier, how hard do I attack United into SFO from DEN when both are United hubs, but this is my lifeblood. Flip it around. If I'm United, how much do I let Frontier (or anyone) take DEN-SFO? Do I even want DEN-SFO since I'm going to be flying a regional jet?
Yeah, there's science and sensitivity analysis and all of the other good pricing methodology, but at the end of the day, it's a marketer who is good with numbers saying, "Go for it." |
02-20-2006, 08:11 PM
| | Usagi Yojimbo | | Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: The Birthplace of American Democracy
Posts: 16,412
| | Re Airline Ticket Prices, the next generation | |
As someone who travels very little, I'm mostly interested in seeing what happens when new information availablity hits a market.
I'm wondering if people who do travel have ever been interested in a service like this, or would even use it once they'd heard of it.
-JP
__________________ Aces Full of Links is Dr. Momentum's blog
Sooner or later, people are going to figure out if all you run is negative attack ads you don't have much of a vision for the future or you're not ready to articulate it. |
02-21-2006, 12:24 PM
|  | Mom of the Four Men | | Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Canada, sort of
Posts: 17,049
| | Re Airline Ticket Prices, the next generation | |
I can't wait until it goes live. I'd realy like to see it in action. I've bookmarked the flyspy site - thanks! |
02-23-2006, 12:00 PM
|  | Rockin', Rollin', Ritin' | | Join Date: Jul 2000
Posts: 5,821
| | Re Airline Ticket Prices, the next generation | |
AARP Magazine published an article two years ago which said that the computerized reservation systems update ever Wednesday at 12:01 a.m.
To chase the best fares, be online at 12:01 a.m. for the time zone in which your chosen airline's HQ is located.
This strategy has saved me about $70 off each plane ticket I've bought in the past two years (we fly as a family twice a year or so...)
$1,000....
I tested it by checking Hotwire on Monday and Tuesday and seeing the difference in the Wednesday early a.m. price for the same flight...
But the more science we can bring in to the good fare search, the better.
I don't think it's "cheapness." For us, flying is a necessity, because we live more than 1,000 miles away from our families. We didn't choose to live 1,000 miles away from our families. The same global economic conditions that have created problems for the airline unions forced us to move--not once, but four times.
And if flying weren't a necessity for us, I wouldn't begrudge the airline employees an extra $70 a ticket...
But it is. |
02-23-2006, 07:58 PM
| | Rockin The Suburbs | | Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Chantilly, VA
Posts: 8,759
| | Re Airline Ticket Prices, the next generation | |
Absolutely true that fares go in overnight - usually midweek. But, if American launches a "suicide fare" (e.g., very low fare designed to drive out competition) on Wednesday, from ORD to SFO, United might match them two days later or that afternoon or whatever. Sometimes, they second (or third or fourth) airline may even undercut by just a few more dollars.
It can pretty much happen at any time now, although 4-7 p.m. eastern (when Delta, American, United, Northwest and US Airways are all getting ready to close their admin offices) can also be a time to look. I have had people tell me that they actually try to wait out the pricing folks in the central time zone and undercut them by $10 or $20 to pick up the overnight bookings before shooting the fare back up.
It's all predator-prey and a funny game to watch. |
02-27-2006, 06:26 PM
| | Rockin', Rollin', Ritin' | | Join Date: Jul 2000
Posts: 5,821
| | Re Airline Ticket Prices, the next generation | |
Alas, I don't live in a well-traveled hub with many airlines to choose from.
We only have Northwest and American, and Northwest has been considering reducing service because of its financial problems.
We're lucky to get discounts at all in Hooterville. We gauge our success by seeing how often we will be forced to drive to Tulsa and fly Southwest Air because the fares are too high.
And we're successful. We've been able to beat Southwest handily every time. The only time any of us has flown out of Tulsa was when my daughter went to England on a group trip. The fare was only $630 a person, in the summer, and it was well worth it for the group to fly out of Tulsa. | |
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