AARRRGH NW Airlines

[leehljp]

Yesterday I checked online for NWA flights from Nagoya to Memphis for May/June and found several for $875/$900.00 Travel via NWA, there is only one stop in Detroit on the way to Memphis.

Wife said "Wait until I talk with everyone". I told her it still wouldn't affect the dates that we are going. But for her to talk with everyone, I waited.

Today, all tickets are $4000.00. I called NW and asked if this is a mistake. They said "No". We just pulled all of our discount tickets!

United offers $900.00 tickets but that is to SF, Denver, Memphis and then Mem, Chicago, Tokyo and Nagoya for the return.

Thinking of waiting a few days. Hope United doesn't pull an NWA.

[MikeR]

Air travel

Welcome to the wacky world of airline ticket prices. No connection with reality.

Might as well be a lottery where you put your name and destination in and a price pops up.

Cheers,

MikeR

[jziegler]

I've learned that when you see a great deal, you have to go for it. I have a trip coming up in a month that I go tickets for around $600 a person R/T (heading over to Paris and Vienna). I booked during a special sale, had to do it while my boss at work was out of the office, fortunately he's pretty cool with scheduling. The next day, the same tickets were over $2000 each. At that price, I doubt they will sell too many. Of course, if I play all sorts of games, I can get lots of different prices for those flights.... Aren't airlines fun?

Jim

[rg32]

It can be a real craps shoot
Good luck with your flights and $$$

[Kristofor]

At the risk of sounding like a homer (and I certainly have no love lost for NWA), that's not really something unique to any single airline... They all tend to play that game with fares bouncing up and down. $4K sounds crazy though...

My little brother is stationed in Okinawa and I keep an eye open for cheap flights in case my work schedule and his deployment schedules happen to line up for a quick trip over there to say hi. The normal price from MSP (another NWA hub like Memphis) is ~$1000-1300. That's flying through Osaka or Tokyo, and sometimes requiring a hop through Detroit, so I would imagine Tokyo may be a smidge cheaper (of course trying to apply logic to airline pricing may be enough to drive anyone crazy). With that said sometimes the prices will jump up by over $1K, but typically this only lasts a few days. Since you still have a load of time, I'd give it a week or two and see if you couldn't find a (much)cheaper flight. I've also noticed that Fridays are killers for cost on the international routes to/from Japan, those average over $1K more than any other day of the week...

Kristofor.

[JTimmons]

Hope United doesn't pull an NWA.

They will, not sure when their cutoff is, when they raise the rates.

When I was commuting from Oklahoma to Colorado every week I had the samething happen to me a couple of times once within a few minutes and once in an hour of searching and booking the flight. I was using Expedia and flying United.

When we moved my mom flew out to Oklahoma to help out and the same thing there, checked the flight one day and it was $160 next day it was $350. Changed the depart date the next day and it was cheaper.

Don't ever screw up and book the wrong flight either, they charge $100 to reschedule them too, even on-line. Doesn't matter if you notice the mistake minutes after booking it either.

[Tundra_Man]

Airline fares are priced using a complex algorythm involving a monkey and a dartboard.

A few years back I was flying from Sioux Falls to New Orleans. My flight was going to make a stop in Minneapolis. I decided to check and see if I could save a few bucks by driving to Minneapolis and catching the same flight from there to New Orleans. By not taking the flight from SF to Minneapolis, it would have cost me $100 more for the ticket on the exact same plane. That's kooky talk...

[jziegler]

Airline fares are priced using a complex algorythm involving a monkey and a dartboard.

A few years back I was flying from Sioux Falls to New Orleans. My flight was going to make a stop in Minneapolis. I decided to check and see if I could save a few bucks by driving to Minneapolis and catching the same flight from there to New Orleans. By not taking the flight from SF to Minneapolis, it would have cost me $100 more for the ticket on the exact same plane. That's kooky talk...

It sounds weird, but apparently it works. I've seen the same thing many times. It's based on demand for the end city pair. So, less demand at Sioux Falls than Minneapolis, so lower fare to attract more business. Something like that, I think. For one trip I want to take sometime, its regularly about $100 or so cheaper to fly philly to Frankfurt, Gremany connecting in Paris than the Philly to Paris flight itself. I don't get it, but if it works for me, I'll use it.

Of course, the monkey and dart board idea is more fun.

Jim

[MilDoc]

NWA is in the process of filing a bankruptcy reorganization plan. Might account for some of their "lost" discount fares lately.

[Kristofor]

Interesting that this just showed up on CNN today... http://www.cnn.com/2007/TRAVEL/ADVIS...ons/index.html

It talks about two fare tracking prediction sites... The first didn't list international locations (and apparently wasn't that accurate anyhow), but the second ( http://www.farecompare.com ) at least gives you a historical view of average prices. Kinda neat.

Kristofor.

[jackellis]

I don't like the constant fare games either but I understand why the airlines are doing it.

Little-known fact. If you look at the sum total of net earnings and losses over the life of the entire airline industry, as a group they're sinkholes for cash. For a long time, Delta and Northwest were consistently and highly profitable, unlike all the others. Even Southwest hasn't been a great investment.

[leehljp]

I called a friend in Minneapolis who works for NWA (international/translation). She checked and got back with me and told me that two things had happened. One was something that happens on occasion and I am aware of it. There is a third reason that plays into the equation also (listed as number 2 below.)

1. Unusual large bookings of students over a 10 day period in late May and early June to Japan.

2. There are 3 major international airports serving Japan's 125 million people to the US. (There are 3 other international airports but they serve Asia mostly.) This creates overcrowding and full flights most of the time.

3. Large blocks of discount tickets are purchased by Travel agencies all at once, cutting into the individual's ability to deal directly with the airlines.

My friend said that number 1 and number 3 reason were the cause this time.

But I still cannot understand from $900 to $4000 over night. Tokyo is a little cheaper with some flights at $3000.00+.