I have always been fascinated by airline travel but I must admit I really don’t know as much about the business of flying as I should.
When I say business, I probably really mean the economics of flying.
When you buy a house, there is a certain amount of negotiating but, generally, houses in a certain neighborhood cost a certain price.
When you buy a car, again, you can dicker. But, there’s not THAT much leeway from the price on the sticker.
Shopping for airline tickets, however, isn’t like that at all. What I have determined is that there is no rhyme or reason to the pricing. And for someone who is fairly structured in terms of budget and planning, I find that to be very curious indeed.
Three different recent instances have brought this craziness to light.
First, my daughter is going to be doing ‘study abroad’ this summer. As you’d expect, international airline tickets are pricey. Whereas there is some flexibility what you will pay, there’s not a lot of give.
You’re going to pay a lot and you might as well get used to the idea.
Flying domestically, however, is totally different. Prices are all over the place.
My sister is planning a vacation and I was looking at Southwest rates for her. She is planning to travel a route that is fairly common. Still, I thought that, as she travels with two young children, it might be easy to cut her travel time tremendously by flying rather than driving.
Southwest is advertising a great rate right now (for trips you book by March 29 and flights you take between April 3 and June 27). The flights start at $69 one-way. Of course, there are few flights that actually cost as low as $69 but many of them are just over $100. That’s a steal. Literally…that’s just over the cost of one tankful of gasoline with costs rising.
The catch for us Knoxvillians is that Southwest doesn’t fly from here. Nashville is the closest Southwest location. Still, a short drive to Nashville can recoup you many savings and it is well worth it.
Looking at the Southwest fares, though, they’re really all over place. Many of them are quite good; others not so much.
In that case, fares = fairs. In other cases, they are unfairs! You just wonder what drives the variance. Is it simple supply and demand? Or is there another reason? I just don’t know.
Our own vacation plans will take us to the west coast. And even though the Southwest sale would give us a great deal, Lisa was able to find an even better deal flying from here. How that is possible, I just don’t know. But, she found a great rate.
When we finally got down to booking, the travel site we used said “Just 4 Seats Left at this price!” I don’t doubt it. The fares were dirt cheap.
It does seem like rates are great right now, for the most part. So, if you’re interested, I’d recommend that you act quickly. If you do, you might just get a steal of a deal!
JG
Originally posted 4/1/2012
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