massive price fluctuations via CX website

[MEL_Traveller]

Just a heads up - we were booking flights two days ago from China to Australia. Different computers were showing different prices - the difference was as much as AUD1000. Same flights, accessed via the same CX.au website (but one person in China and the other here).

However, on both the lower and higher fares (shown in China and Australia), Dragonair offered lower prices by around AUD200 - again same flights.

So it pays to shop around, and if you need to make a booking exAsia - get a friend to check prices in another region!


OTA's were hopeless. They were priced in the middle of the AUD1000 spread - but only with 8+ hour connections or overnight in HKG both ways.

 

[eastwest101]

Its not just the CX web site either, not sure at what dates you were looking at travelling but I was shopping around for fares ex-CNS to either HKG or SIN (on CX and Silkair) in early Jan and am not sure if its Australian School holidays or other festivals and holidays in Asia but saw some astronomical fares on the Cathay and Silkair web sites among others. So not sure if its just typical supply and demand or 'the Australia Tax' at work again...

 

[kelvedon]

I don't know if it's an urban myth, but I've heard that repeat visits to the same website and inputting the same search can result in increased prices, as it indicates to the website that you may be about to buy. Clearing your internet history, and the cookies from that website bypasses that assumption. Anyone else hear of this theory?

 

[defurax]

Just a heads up - we were booking flights two days ago from China to Australia. Different computers were showing different prices - the difference was as much as AUD1000. Same flights, accessed via the same CX.au website (but one person in China and the other here).

However, on both the lower and higher fares (shown in China and Australia), Dragonair offered lower prices by around AUD200 - again same flights.

So it pays to shop around, and if you need to make a booking exAsia - get a friend to check prices in another region!


OTA's were hopeless. They were priced in the middle of the AUD1000 spread - but only with 8+ hour connections or overnight in HKG both ways.

Are the " same flights" also in the same fare buckets?

 

[vetrade]

I don't know if it's an urban myth, but I've heard that repeat visits to the same website and inputting the same search can result in increased prices, as it indicates to the website that you may be about to buy. Clearing your internet history, and the cookies from that website bypasses that assumption. Anyone else hear of this theory?

Yes, have heard of that - and it doesn't just apply to flights. The same thing happens with hotel bookings sometimes too.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Its not just the CX web site either, not sure at what dates you were looking at travelling but I was shopping around for fares ex-CNS to either HKG or SIN (on CX and Silkair) in early Jan and am not sure if its Australian School holidays or other festivals and holidays in Asia but saw some astronomical fares on the Cathay and Silkair web sites among others. So not sure if its just typical supply and demand or 'the Australia Tax' at work again...

Australia tax except it was cheaper in Australia accessing the .au website than it was from China (also accessing the .au website)

Are the " same flights" also in the same fare buckets?

It was - 'I' class.

We cleared all our cookies. Website and OTAs were all over the place for some reason.

Thankfully by next morning the cheaper price could be accessed from China. (Note to Qantas - lack of full flat beds and/or changing aircraft from flat beds to angled has resulted in $11,400 in lost revenue in the last month!)

 

[JohnK]

The Cathay website is a strange one. Some specials are only accessed via the relevant link on the website.