Saturday, April 30, 2011

Air Fare Deals: How Ticket Game Research Sites

 During the last decade, airlines have shared a completely unofficial motto: "Never be one dollar more or less than its competitors."

If you do not know what that means, you should, because you are responsible for you and everyone who steals. And if you do not understand the motto, you may be insufficient whenever you buy a ticket.


What difference can make a dollar to an airline? Perhaps the difference between solvency and more empty aircraft flights - or at least airplanes are not packaged as their owners like them. Years, this difference of dollar did not matter so much; in fact, a difference in the price of airline tickets for $10, $20 or sometimes even hundreds was not a big problem. You call your favorite airline, or relied on a travel agent who knew what you wanted and paid the asking price. Internet then came along.


For travel ideas and more new see blog of Rick at farecompare.com


Research of ticket sites has helped revolutionize the air transport industry, because you can easily compare prices. Airlines were initially enthusiasm on these new shopping direct-to-consumer channels because it their has helped to reduce the human costs of travel agents of the food chain, but the carriers have not provided an unexpected consequence of price comparison ubiquitous : the death of loyalty. Consumers embraced joyfully comparison prices online and sold themselves to the lowest bidder, miles be damned.


Fast forward to the present time - the generation of air transport costs - where research sites for comparing prices called Vasa (for "online travel agencies") and METAs ("multiple site search") give airlines new headaches. In most cases, sites of research of today give fliers access to the "extras" so dear to the hearts of the airlines, and by extras, I mean the money-makers as more legroom (for a fee) or beginning of boarding (for fee). You get the picture.


But where the dollar difference really matters is in the section of the meat and potatoes of sites of today: the list of the actual airline. I recently watched round-trip nonstop flights from LA to NY and saw lists for Continental, United States, and JetBlue, in that order, for $516. Alaska, with tickets for a buck, made two of the inscriptions. And poor American, only five bucks higher (and it is not much for a ticket which is you cost already more of 500 bucks) appear only on page 5.


It is quite common on a 10-pack display Google search results, most clicks go to elements of the first place, the number two spot - and the number ten. Ten? Yes. It chalk up to human nature. We trust the first two choices, and then we like to scroll to the bottom, after which us bored and click the last on the list.


Can you tell me: would you look after identical tickets page or pages which show tickets for a few dollars more - or would you buy the first ticket see you at the lowest price? Okay, perhaps seek you through a page or two if the carrier with your miles program is registered to see, but beyond that, many of us just do filter causes much.


Now as to why there are so many identical price, he did y no mystery: airlines have a set of markets up or pairs of cities which are their silver key decision makers and they manage the prices of these roads closely. With the lesser routes, airlines want to sell their fair share and that means being in the so-called "competitive balance." in other words, they keep the close appears on the first page of results.

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