Recently, as in yesterday, I had to make airline reservations to Atlanta. My reservations where under the 21 day rule for lower fares. This I have no problem with. Well, I have a little problems, because it cost so much more money! But I can understand, well not really, but as travelers, we know that the later you wait the more expensive the ticket can be. Of course, the opposite happens sometimes too where you get a great deal tickets at the last minute.
What I don’t understand is being able to offer an airline ticket and hotel room for less than the ticket alone. This is what happened yesterday with Travelocity. By the way, I could find so such deal on Expedia. Using the same reservation dates, the airline ticket plus hotel room was half the cost of airline ticket alone. There was also a car rental plus airline ticket option, but this was “sold out.” I understand that travel agencies, which Travelocity and Expedia are, in a sense, make these types of deals with airlines and hotels and car rental agencies to help ensure the air plane is full, the hotel is at maximum occupancy, and that all cars are rented.
So, my question is, if airlines are able to make these deals, what’s the true cost of flying? Does the airline’s operating expenses increase the later passengers make reservations? Is the airline industry “putting the squeeze” or taking advantage of passengers who have to make travel arrangement late? If you are making arrangements two days prior to travel, perhaps you are desperate, do airlines see dollars to be made? Of course, the opposite is true too, why should the passenger who wait the week before traveling get a better rate than me … just because the airline wants to fill the plane?
