I get really irate with discount airlines in Australia, after selecting a good fare, choosing the flight, and submitting all the passenger and payment details they want, the website tells me the fare is no longer available and I should choose one for $20 more. This has happened more than once even when I really hurry with making the booking. I suspect airlines play with people, using cookies perhaps, to expect people to pay more since theve spent all that time finding the right flight.

Or they may want to discourage price shoppers (people who log onto Hotwire to get a quote, and then hop over to Expedia or Travelocity to compare prices, and then try to book the Hotwire deal when they find Expedia or Travelocity’s prices were higher).

Heh, good luck with that.

Same with car rentals. When I used to use Yahoo to rent cars, my profile included numbers for Hertz, Budget, and Alamo. as a result, those companies rates topped the list, regardless of whether they were the cheapest of not. When I logged out, I would get the list in a different order. Also, like with Starwood, my frequent renter rate would dominate, even if a cheaper rate was available. The reason was that my rate might have perks, or required for requalification of elite status, etc.

He called Hotwire to ask why being logged in would result in a higher price

I had something like that happen to me a few times, this time for a flight.

What happened was I searched for a flight, then saved a record in my account with an airline or travel agency if I couldn’t book it on the spot. The price went up by the time I get around to it.

After seeing this occurring a few more times, I decided to test it. I searched for the same flight I originally saved a record of, but didn’t save it anew.

The price didn’t go up even after I finally booked it. I deleted the saved but unpaid record.

Unfortunately subsequent testing didn’t show any consistency. But a few things I learned since then is just take note of the trip if I really can’t book it there and then, and not expect its price to remain that way by the time I get to it.

Geo-location is the (inexact) science of determining where a computer physically is located based on its IP address.

Hotwire may have determined that one ZIP code is more likely to be affluent or business-oriented, and therefore gets a higher-rate than another ZIP code, which may be lower-income or more likely to be vacation travelers.

just a crazy thought. . . .

What happened? The airline has exactly 1 seat left at the cheaper fare, but the software won’t allow you to book two tickets using the same reservation, one at the cheaper fare, one at the more expensive fare. Naturally, if there is still one cheap ticket left, you’d like to have it. The only way I’ve found to make it work is to just book two reservations. So it’s always a good idea when buying airline tickets on line to run the search first looking for only one ticket. You may be able to save significant money by snagging that last cheap seat.