[Idyllchat] Planning airline ticket purchase - now or later?

[Russ Crum]

On the question of an airline giving you a reduction in fare if it  
happens after you purchase your tickets. A few years ago that  
happened to us. We had scheduled a trip to Europe on NWA. A couple  
months later the same ticket could be purchased on line for about  
$150/ticket less! I called NWA and asked if we could re-ticket at the  
lower fare. After much keyboard clicking that I could hear, the  
person said yes, we could but there would be a $25/ticket charge and  
the credit would have to be vouchers on a future flight that would be  
valid for one year. We grabbed it since $125 prepaid on the next  
year's tickets sure beat a poke in the eye with a sharp stick! Yes,  
that pretty much locked us into NWA for the next year's Europe trip.  
But, since they control about 75% of the traffic out of DTW, we felt  
it wasn't a bad deal.

Russ Crum
rrcrum at sbcglobal.net

On Dec 16, 2007, at 12:14 , <pandjking at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> To me, it seems a lot like buying gas these days:  if you buy now,  
> you risk the price going down tomorrow, but if you put it off, you  
> risk the price going up even more or running out of gas (i.e.  
> waiting too long to buy your ticket and finding the flights you  
> want are sold out).  If I were you, I'd go ahead and buy now.
>
> I recently read or heard something to the effect that if you buy  
> tickets in advance and then the rate goes down, the airline is  
> obligated to refund the difference, provided you jump through some  
> hoops to make it happen.  I don't know any of the details, or even  
> if it's true, but it might be worth researching.
>
> Jane
> Spring Lake, MI
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ed Comer" <remocmail- 
> travel at yahoo.com>
> To: "IdyllChat" <IdyllChat at lists.untours.com>
> Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2007 11:45 AM
> Subject: [Idyllchat] Planning airline ticket purchase - now or later?
>
>
>> My wife and I have reserved an UnTour to Meiringen, Switzerland  
>> for two weeks in September/October, 2008. In planning the airfare  
>> my past experience with UnTours and other travel services is that  
>> their round trip airfare from the Southeastern United States to  
>> Europe averages in the $800-$950 neighborhood. I plan on obtaining  
>> my own air travel so that I will have better control over the  
>> route and airline, etc.
>>
>> My dilemma is when to make the purchase. I can purchase tickets  
>> today from Asheville, NC or Greenville, SC to Zurich via Atlanta  
>> (oddly Atlanta to Zurich costs more than using it as a stop) for  
>> $919 including all taxes and fees. This price is, in my opinion,  
>> comparable to what UnTours would charge me if I purchased the  
>> airfare from them. I am satisfied with this price, carrier and  
>> route but what I cannot decide is if should wait to closer to the  
>> travel date, hoping for a sale while simultaneously risking a  
>> price increase. Consequentially, I am currently sitting on the  
>> fence. I would love to read the opinions of others.
>>
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> Search Idyllchat Archives for any subject at: http://search.dca.net/ 
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>>
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