Getting nervous

We are taking a family group on an Alaskan cruise May 27 to celebrate our grandson's high school graduation. I have been watching air fares for months now, and all they seem to do is go up. Do you think they will come down some, or should I bite the bullet and book now?

We are taking a family group on an Alaskan cruise May 27 to celebrate our grandson's high school graduation. I have been watching air fares for months now, and all they seem to do is go up. Do you think they will come down some, or should I bite the bullet and book now?

Three thought problems:

1) If you have been watching for months now, and have only seen price movement in one direction, what evidence may you have that would lead you to believe that trendline would reverse?

2) Anonymous strangers tell you the price will go down, just be patient. At what point will you say "I can't risk them going up any more" versus "I have to wait for them to get lower, since they are too high now"?

3) How much are you willing to risk that the price will go up further, and how much are you expecting the prices to go down? Is this risk/reward calculation in your favor or not?

In other words, there is no answer that you will get regarding future pricing that should make your decision for you. No one knows with certainty. But you saw a price for air when you bought your cruise. You wanted a lower price so you waited. It went up. You decided to wait some more. I went up still more. You've decided to wait again. It's still going up.

The decision, and the underlying judgment, is yours - and yours alone. Use the facts you've gleaned over these months of planning.

Sorry but I would have probably purchased these flights months ago....you need to make a decision now...chances are slim they will go down. JMHO

Use the facts you've gleaned over these months of planning.

This is actually an important point. At this time, you have more data regarding your specific routing than any of us do.

The thing is, there could be price drops or seat sales; however, your ability to take advantage of such deals is directly related to the amount of flexibility you can/are willing to have in terms of flight times, dates and airports. The more fixed your criteria are, the less likely you will be able to take advantage of any deals.

We are taking a family group on an Alaskan cruise May 27 to celebrate our grandson's high school graduation. I have been watching air fares for months now, and all they seem to do is go up. Do you think they will come down some, or should I bite the bullet and book now?

How many folks are in your family group? I would have bought those tickets by now, but that is just me.

Thanks for your input. It confirmed what I was thinking, so I have been looking again today. I got creative with my airports and travel dates and managed to get all of us tickets. We're not flying together, but that is ok.

Just a heads up for future reference since you've already bought your tickets.... Try clearing your web browser history and search again. The price should come down.

Glad you were able to get the tickets.

For Alaska as some have mentioned because of demand we have found prices usually go up unless something unexpected happens that would drive down demand.

Keith

Just a heads up for future reference since you've already bought your tickets.... Try clearing your web browser history and search again. The price should come down.

Urban legend. But I hear it works when buying tickets at 2am on a Tuesday.

Urban legend. But I hear it works when buying tickets at 2am on a Tuesday.

Sent from my SM-T700 using Forums mobile app

Just a heads up for future reference since you've already bought your tickets.... Try clearing your web browser history and search again. The price should come down.

Total nonsense.

Just a heads up for future reference since you've already bought your tickets.... Try clearing your web browser history and search again. The price should come down.

Only if the actual prices have gone down....

Thank you for your revealing responses. I did see the post which was removed, but not at my request. I prefer character illumination to be kept in plain sight. Despite your rude and dismissive responses, I have successfully cleared my browser history and resurrected lower prices on more than one occasion. Please feel free to discuss amongst yourselves as I have no interest in interacting with you further.

The fact that you cleared a cookie and got a lower price only indicates that inventory became available in a lower priced bucket. Pricing is dynamic and is effected through inventory management, but apparently some would rather stick with their beliefs rather than discuss how airline revenue management actually works.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Many consumers believe smart shoppers need to clear the cache and cookies in their own computers—elements merchants store so they recognize you when you return and tailor advertising and offers to your interests. The fear is that if airlines and travel sites know you go to Cleveland regularly on Friday afternoons, they may only show you higher fares to Cleveland for Friday afternoon flights.

 

Experts say there’s no evidence of that. There have been some instances of hotel pricing being tailored to particular customers, but not with airlines. Airline websites guarantee they have the airline’s lowest prices, and it’s cheaper for airlines if consumers book directly with them rather than through third parties. If they discriminated against customers in pricing, smart shoppers would find cheaper fares on other airlines, says David Tossell, vice president of travel and hospitality at DataArt Inc., a technology consulting firm, and a former Travelocity manager.

 

“There is a point where people become price-sensitive,” he says.

 

Henry Harteveldt, co-founder of Atmosphere, says his research has never turned up airline price discrimination. Mr. Hafner of Kayak agrees. Kayak’s deals with carriers oblige them to give the site the lowest price, he says.

If you clear your cookies/history and that moment a ticket in a lower booking class becomes available it looks like it has worked, but in fact, you just got incredibly lucky.

There's a handful of people here knowing more about air travel than 95% of the boards combined.

Telling someone you are wrong is not being rude. But hey, keep believing what you believe ;-)

I have successfully cleared my browser history and resurrected lower prices on more than one occasion.

I can create circumstances in which I can push up the price of a flight, come back to it and "resurrect" the earlier lower price. But that's because I know what's going on and I can manipulate the airline's availability and therefore price. Like you, I've done it more than once. But it's got nothing to do with cookies, because I could get the lower price back without clearing cookies.

As the WSJ article points out, airlines have no reason to do this to you. All that would happen if they did is that they would push you to buying the ticket from someone else. That's completely counter-productive.

Why do posters so frequently cry, "rude" when they are corrected after posting erroneous information?

The point of this forum is to help people with air travel, not provide them with silly urban legends.

Why do posters so frequently cry, "rude" when they are corrected after posting erroneous information?

The point of this forum is to help people with air travel, not provide them with silly urban legends.

Don't you know...today, everyone is entitled to their own facts and objective reality doesn't matter anymore. And woe be to anyone who disrupts that nice pleasant self-contained world view.

Why do posters so frequently cry, "rude" when they are corrected after posting erroneous information?

The point of this forum is to help people with air travel, not provide them with silly urban legends.

Many folks on this website suffer from TSD. (Thin skin disease). I have lost track of how many of my posts have been mysteriously deleated because I didn't tell someone what they wanted to hear or was "rude" or "mean"

Many folks on this website suffer from TSD. (Thin skin disease). I have lost track of how many of my posts have been mysteriously deleated because I didn't tell someone what they wanted to hear or was "rude" or "mean"

Sent from my SM-T700 using Forums mobile app

Many folks on this website suffer from TSD. (Thin skin disease). I have lost track of how many of my posts have been mysteriously deleated because I didn't tell someone what they wanted to hear or was "rude" or "mean"

Don't know whether to say "got ya beat" or "hold my beer and watch this".....

Don't know whether to say "got ya beat" or "hold my beer and watch this".....

:') I'm opting for "hold my beer and watch this" :beer-mug:

Cheers!