 |
90+ percent of all airfares that are purchased each day are filed with a clearing house in Washington DC called ATPCO (Airline Tariff Publishing Company). This company was once a government agency but changed to private ownership (owned by 20+ airlines) after airline deregulation in 1978. Hundreds of thousands of airfare price and rule changes flow continuously into ATPCO each day and in turn they distribute them at specified times later that day to a handful of subscribers worldwide that provide reservation systems including the airlines themselves (FareCompare.com is one of these handful of subscribers). Savvy air travel shoppers should know these approximate delivery times to save both time and energy shopping … |
Airfares are distributed in two different groupings each day
- U.S. and Canadian Airfares to/from all airports in these countries
- International Airfares both touching the U.S and Canada and between airports outside the U.S. and Canada
Domestic U.S and Canada Airfare Distribution
Domestic U.S. and Canadian airfares are distributed to subscribers (reservation systems) on the following schedule and are loaded approximately 2-4 hours after distribution into reservation systems (except on FareCompare.com which sends out free airfare email alerts immediately):
- Weekdays - 3 times daily at 10:00am, 12:30pm and 8:00pm Eastern Time
- Weekends - 1 time daily at 5:00pm Eastern Time (loaded after Midnight the next day into reservation systems)
International Airfare Distribution
International airfares are distributed to subscribers (reservation systems) on the following schedule and are loaded approximately 4-8 hours after distribution (except on FareCompare.com which sends out free airfare email alerts immediately):
- Weekdays - 5 times daily at 1:00am, 5:30am, 11:00am, 3:00pm, 8:00pm Eastern Time
- Saturday - 2 times at 5:00am and 5:00pm Eastern Time
- Sunday - 2 times at 5:00pm and 8:30pm Eastern Time
Use Airfare Distribution Times to Your Advantage
Savvy air travel shoppers will use this knowledge to save both time (quit hunting and pecking for good prices randomly) and money (those first to know when prices change are more likely to get the best deal).
Airlines know everything about you and your travel shopping habits — when you like to go, what times you like to go and where you want to visit — it is about time you knew more about the airlines — so you can make the best air travel purchasing decision.
Can airfares change simply based on the number of inquiries to a particular flight, even if reservations are not made? I’ve been looking at the fares on a particular flight and the fare is going up daily. Wondering if that’s a function of an increased interest level in the flight or if the cheaper seats truly are being reserved and/or purchased.
Comment by Bill W — January 15, 2008 @ 12:52 pm
I have been wondering the same thing. Actually, I have been wondering if by checking out the fares so often I have actually been CAUSING the price rises because the airlines think there is more interest in a particular flight or route than there really is! Call me paranoid, but is this possibe?????
Comment by J Greene — January 16, 2008 @ 9:53 pm
Often there are only a few seats at a spacific fare. They may sell out at any time. Also, some reservation systems actually hold a seat for up to several hours when someone stops in the middle of making a reservation.
Comment by blake — January 17, 2008 @ 8:42 am
Please clarify… do the new prices appear on the airlines website at the times you provide above (e.g. 10am, 12:30pm, and 8pm ET on weekdays for domestic flights) OR do they appear on the airlines websites 2 to 4 hours later? If the latter, that would mean that a price that was changed at 10am might not show up on the airlines reservations website until 2pm, correct?
Comment by Mary Rizzolo — January 17, 2008 @ 10:51 am
Good question by Bill W. I did buy a fare, and have been checking back to see if it would go up or down. It has been steadily moving up. Am I contributing that just by checking?
Comment by Mark A — January 17, 2008 @ 1:49 pm
There are millions of air travel queries a day — many of them the inventory query result is cached so the airlines don’t even see at hit on their reservation system — so the answer is no you are not driving up the price simply by querying multiple times — but making multiple back to back queries is not very optimal for your time or the computer time on the airlines reservation system either even though I understand why everyone does it — bottom line in theory they could take query volume into account but they don’t … yet
Comment by Rick Seaney — January 17, 2008 @ 2:59 pm
These are the scheduled times for airfare distribution to subscribers, it takes each reservation system a different amount of time to load and present the new prices to the public — anywhere from 2-4 hours domestic and 4-8 hours for international.
The domestic 8pm airfare feed is not loaded until after midnight on reservation systems.
We send out the information immediately (after every airfare feed — not once a night) so you have a huge head start.
Some of the best deals are only good for one airfare feed cycle and many alert systems never notice them …
Comment by Rick Seaney — January 17, 2008 @ 3:04 pm
Are senior fares available on these cheap flights ?
I must go to Portland and Seattle within a 5-6 day period during the next 4 weeks and will buy one way fares. It appears cheaper than a round trip to either plus the fare between the two.. Which city should I go to first ?
Many thanks.
Comment by Jonathan Sternberg — January 17, 2008 @ 11:18 pm
I wonder if airlines, knowing a flight probably won’t be sold out decide to lower their fares so many days before departure to try to avoid flying without empty seats? If they do so, how many days before departure should one look for a lower price on a given flight?
Comment by MIchael Saeli — January 19, 2008 @ 12:11 am
I am trying to organize a group of 10 people to go to the Spoleto Festival in Charleston,S.C. 25 May-10 June 2008.
So far I have managed to get a group rate from a top hotel
there and am now trying to get a group discount from an airline.I am not in the travel or tourism industry but am doing this merely to get a inexpensive trip for myself.
Do you have any suggestions as to how I can get airline to give me a substantial discount for such a small group of peo[ple. ( I live in New York and the group would leave from and return to either JFK or Laguardia)
Comment by jack jordan — January 19, 2008 @ 5:08 am
My wife and I are going to Australia in October. We want to travel business class. When is the best time to buy tickets for this trip?
Comment by Rick Wiggers — January 24, 2008 @ 12:19 am
I am planning a trip to New York City May 23-May 31…I started shopping really early (before Christmas) but nothing was ever available in May and even now the lower prices have only gone up to May 20.
Since it is a holiday week, do I continue to wait or is this the best I’m going to get??
Thanks!
Comment by Sandy Fox — January 31, 2008 @ 9:47 am
Hi there
what’s the difference between an air fare that is calculated/based on a mileage system verus a route system?
How can we find out such info on tickets from the websites? Is there a code? Thanks
Comment by Randy — February 10, 2008 @ 3:54 am
I purchased an american airlines flight on travelocity’s AARP passport for seniors. If the price lowers, can I change it directly with american? or do I have to pay the $100(or whatever).
Comment by glorianne — February 20, 2008 @ 12:46 pm