Monday, January 21, 2008

Urban legend or awesome tip?

On the flight from Calgary to Winnipeg I was seated next to someone who wanted to chat. I tried to head this off by putting on my headphones and wearing my hoodie low over my head. I tried to discourage this by giving one word answers and half smiles. I tried to stop it by pretending to sleep. I then gave myself a little shake and thought 'what is the harm in chatting with someone for an hour- on a flight that is otherwise miserable and boring?' He seemed nice enough. Plus I was fresh from Calgary and the mean ugly Toronto side of me had yet to kick in.
Our conversation was quite interesting though I remember nearly none of it. But one thing he did share that I'd like to pass on to you today- is a tip about purchasing Air Canada plane tickets online. Apparently guy had a friend who worked in the online department of the airline- who passed along this hot little tip.
The site is set up so that as more people purchase tickets for a certain flight, or even look at tickets, the prices automatically adjust- and it does this on a daily basis.
I knew that as seats were sold the ticket prices went up- but this price adjustment apparently happens on a daily basis- with the prices re-setting during the night.
His example? He purchased his planed ticket to PEI (from Calgary) for $300. (He set his alarm clock to go off at 2am.)
The next afternoon he was looking for the same ticket- and at 5pm it was nearing $600!!!
I have yet the occasion to look for a ticket and have had no reason to set my alarm to experiment (I was up at 3am this Saturday- but not thinking about airline prices...) BUT if it's true- then it's definitely worth staying up and doing some plane ticket purchasing in the wee hours.

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