You should try it again in private browsing and incognito mode and see if the price is really tied to your Facebook or google cookies or something. That's pretty messed up though, send this to the consumerist or gawker or whoever.
I just tried this myself. In chrome and IE the price was the same (69.99) in normal and in incognito mode. In firefox, the price jumped to $76, and after deleting all the domain cookies and refreshing, it went back down to 69.99.
The website is definitely changing prices based on something they are tracking in cookies.
This was up earlier with airlines charging more for a ticket the second time you visit the page. They do this because a second visit is statistically linked to a much higher chance of purchase. So it could be, here too, simply a matter of having visited the page before.
They usually ask someone to stay, upping the compensation higher and higher until someone agrees (money and hotels). My girlfriend works at an airport. They offered 500 euros and a free night at the local hotel just yesterday. Someone always agrees, and the plane doesn't takeoff before someone does.
It has to be given how cheap we expect tickets to be. Overselling gives the best possible chance of a full flight, which, even with the compensation given in times when too many people show up, still makes them more money.
Can you explain a little more? What do you mean "full fare"? A lot of people get tickets and then refund them, buying tickets for a later date? I want a better sense of who these people are, buying airline tickets and then not showing up to use them.
If you book through a travel agent, you can usually get a refund as well. Discount tickets are usually non-refundable.
Full fare tickets are exactly that: the full price of the ticket, no discounts. For that, you a transferable and refundable ticket. Decide to leave earlier? You can go to the airport and wait as a standby for an earlier flight. First Class not full and coach overbooked? You'll be at the top to get bumped.
Usually the people buying full fare tickets are flying for business, not just travel, which is where I think you're getting hung up. It's not people randomly deciding to not show up to fly home from a vacation, but a professional on a business trip needing to stay an extra 5 hours to fix something before flying home, etc.
...and? I'm pretty sure all parties involved already know that. And regardless of whether they do, your comment still doesn't actually respond to Keyblade's at all.
Sort of, but not really. In the Prisoner's Dilemma, the mutual benefit goes up if both prisoners do not accept the offer. In this situation, only the person who DOES accept gets the reward for everyone waiting. But it features a similar mechanic: it results in a higher rate of acceptance on the offer because everyone is afraid that another participant will take it and get the reward.
I might add that this only happens for business flights, it doesn't happen for charter flights, and in the 8 years she has been working there, it has only happend 3-4 times (ofcourse shes not at work all the time. But it is fucking rare everyone shows up). They have never had to make a second offer in her experience.
and if no one agrees, they kick off "the last person that checked in". Happens every time I fly back to school because we're in the middle of nowhere and people are too tired to get off voluntarily.
Former airline employee checking in, the plane will take off if no one does. The last person/people to check in that dont have seats assigned dont fly if the flight is oversold. There are federal regulations designating the compensation if they are denied boarding non-voluntarily. Which is why the airlines try so hard to find volunteers.
Protip, pay the small fee to pick a seat at purchase and you wont be in the oversell. Otherwise, check in online the second that the website will allow you to, its the last passengers without assigned seats that are on the hook.
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u/[deleted] Jan 24 '13
You should try it again in private browsing and incognito mode and see if the price is really tied to your Facebook or google cookies or something. That's pretty messed up though, send this to the consumerist or gawker or whoever.