Comments on: Why Can’t I Find the Listed Airline Ticket Price?

By: Eduardo

Eduardo — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 19:31:40 +0000

I read all explanation regarding the price mismatch and find it all reasonable.
As I see it, the published fare has very little relevance because if the airline decides not to offer it at any time, it is the same as non existant.
So what is really relevant is to find the PUBLISHED FARE WHICH IS OFFERED at some time.
So for every publish fare, FARECOMPARE has a fare-code.

My search, which drove me nuts for long time was departing MVD to FLL (lowest pubhlshed fare = U$S529 ), and even though it appears in every single month, you cannot ever get it.
So in this case the fare is published by AA (code VLW3SOS and VLX3SOS).

So going back to my generic point, and letting my system engineering influential point of view.
You have the airline and you have the fare code, so is there any FILTER, you can apply to the airline database to get dates where that fare is not only PUBLISHED, BUT ALSO AVAILABLE?

These sort of information would give FARECOMPARE a even larger edge over other sites.
By the way, congratulations for the kind/class of information you offer.

By: Nancy Ray

Nancy Ray — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 13:29:33 +0000

My parents fly out to their summer home in May and back in September…can I book them on round trip tickets or do I have to continue booking two one ways? How many days can you have between flights on a round trip ticket?Thanks, Nancy

By: Randy

Randy — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 23:59:54 +0000

How is an airline ticket based on route system/structure verus a mileage system?

How does the pricing differ for such tickets? Which is better? Thanks.

By: Randy

Randy — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 23:54:03 +0000

what isan air fare that is calculated/based on a mileage system verus a route system?

How does this affect the price ticket? Which is better? Thanks

By: Randy

Randy — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 23:52:45 +0000

whats 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

By: A

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 02:38:48 +0000

I do not understand the alerts you send me. Sorry, maybe you’re not the right person to ask, and in this case i would be grateful if you redirected me, but i just can’t understand. I, more often than not, receive an email alert that prices for my trip have been going down from x to y (say 600 down 200) Price “x” (600) is underlined, i click on it, and sure enough the site would ask me to book my trip at price “x”. But i thought the email just told me price went down to the “y” price (e.g. down 200 would surely mean i can pay 400)?

Please help.

By: Barb

Barb — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:04:43 +0000

Dear Rick,
Thanks for the writeup on this frustrating airfare alert situation. I have two questions: first, have the airlines become more devious recently concerning pricing? I swear I used to get alerts, go check prices, and bingo, there were flights that actually matched the alert price. This NEVER happens anymore, such that I have become a bit disenchanted with FareCompare. I hate to admit that, but it is truly frustrating to search multiple days, times of the day, etc. looking for that elusive fare! But maybe it’s not you guys, it’s the airlines pulling a fast one? My second question is, how do we get around this? I want to fly from MIA-ORD sometime in the mid-late spring, and I don’t really care when. I also want to fly MIA-SFO (or OAK), also within the next few months…so how do I find the cheapest flights if the dates are unimportant? At first glance, the calendar listing the (supposedly) cheapest fares looks good, but as you’ve pointed out, it’s pretty useless. There has to be a solution for the non-business-flyer who doesn’t care when she flies!
Thanks for pondering this,
Barb

By: Sandy Fox

Sandy Fox — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 22:55:44 +0000

I am planning a trip to NYC May 23 - May 31. I have been watching prices since Nov. The lower flight prices only go up to May 20. Being a holiday week should I continue to wait or is the regular price that it has been since Nov the best I’m going to get?
Thanks!

By: Jan Storey

Jan Storey — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 18:14:20 +0000

My Question is alittle complicated, but i dont have a clue as to where to start. We recently flew to Miami, taking a cruise. We flew from Chicago to Charolette. We did not have boarding passes for the CLT leg so when we got to the gate we asked for passes. There were 4 of us. They said they did not have us on the flight. I pulled out my documents. We flew United from ORD and US air from CLT. Well the guy said United didn’t tip us over to them so he had to do alot of computer stuff to finally figure us on the flight. All was well very helpful. Now when we returned we flew American to Atlanta to ORD. When we got to the MIA to check in only 2 of us had tickets. Well after 45 minutes of computer work 3 of us had been found but my husbands ticket had been cancelled. After much work on their part, very nice by the way, they said US Air cancelled his ticket form MIA to ORD when the were doing the boarding passes in CLT. So we had to buy another ticket oneway back to ORD!! So how do we get our money back and where do I start and who will it be with?
So confusing, Thanks Jan Storey