My wife is a middle school teacher, so she has school vacation off. I just looked to see how much a flight to Puerto Rico would be during school vacation week in February, 2007. The cheapest flight was $761 roundtrip, which I thought was high. So, I then checked how much for a non-school vacation week, with the same paramaters and the cheapest flight was $261 roundtrip!! Is this legal?
2006-10-27 03:56:40 · 15 answers · asked by jim 6 in Travel ➔ Air Travel
Supply and demand is NOT the only part of the answer, although it does play a part. Airlines divide their seats up into 'classes': not just first, business and coach. Coach class is divided up into as many as 12 or 15 different classes. Each class is assigned a letter, and each class is a different price, and can have different rules (21 day advance purchase, 14 day advance, 7 day advance, no Saturday stay, and so on). There are only so many seats in each class. Once the cheapest classes sell out, people are forced to pay for one of the more expensive classes. In your situation, I would imagine the cheaper seats are already sold out, since it's a vacation week. You can literally have 200 people on a flight and have everyone paying a different fare for the same flight. I know it's not fair, but it is indeed legal.
Edited to add: I've been a travel agent for more than 10 years - I can see all of the availability on airplanes. Email me if you have any other questions.
2006-10-27 04:03:03 · answer #1 · answered by They call me ... Trixie. 7 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Yes.... It's called business. Any business in the travel industry does the same thing. The best suggestion I have to get a low fare during that time period would be to book as far in advance as possible, and to book on-line on the airlines website... NOT thru travel agencies or other on-line travel agencies (like Priceline, Travelocities...) They will charge hidden fee's. If you book really far in advance always call to make sure there were not any changes to the times of the flight... that will happen a lot. Good Luck ;)
2006-10-27 04:28:28 · answer #2 · answered by Kelli H 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It is not only legal, almost all airlines do it! It follows the basic economic principle-supply and demand. On school vacations, when demand for air travel goes up, the supply of seats goes down, and prices get higher. When school is in session, less people need to travel, and as demand goes down, and supply in turn becomes larger, prices go down.
Hope you can find a cheap flight! Good luck!
2006-10-27 04:07:11 · answer #3 · answered by mamabear84 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Is it legal for them to charge more for a trip during a school vacation week than a non-school vacation week? I hate to say it but yes. I know it sucks, but that's how all businesses operate. They take advantage of the heavy periods of business by charging more. For those periods of inactivity, they can charge less to make it more attractive and therefore receive more business on non-peak times. It's like Southwest Airlines having cheap rates on certain days like Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. They know people don't fly as much during the week.
2006-10-27 04:02:30 · answer #4 · answered by DJ 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Yup, I'm afraid so. It's called supply and demand. Lots of people travel during school holidays and the price goes up because somebody will pay it. Just like the price of gas going up in the summer when everybody wants to go on vacation.
2006-10-27 04:00:19 · answer #5 · answered by Joanne B 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Have you ever heard of supply and demand? The demand is hig during school breaks, so the price is higher. There are fewer people traveling when shcool is in session, so the airlines discount the fares to try to gain business.
An airline is a business, they can set whatever price they want for their service!!
2006-10-27 04:05:08 · answer #6 · answered by fire4511 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Sir (if you are a man). Perhaps the price is so high because Feb is Spring Break time and every college student in the US has off the same time as your wife. Did you ever think of that? Maybe supply and demand has a lot to do with it.
2006-10-27 04:02:51 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Yes, and it's called supply and demand. There is greater demand (peak travel times) for air flights during school vacation times, and the airlines know it. The prices are lowered during non-vacation times, or low demand times. Hence, prices are lower during those times.
2006-10-27 04:00:49 · answer #8 · answered by Ron H 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Yup. Airlines and hotels set their rates to the volume of travel going on so they can make more money, just like the big oil companies. Why do you think gas is lower now? Because winter is here/coming and it means less driving.
2006-10-27 04:01:16 · answer #9 · answered by jirstan2 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
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2016-12-05 07:05:41 · answer #10 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋