How much does the airline fare for a particular route fluctuate?

How much does the airline fare for a particular route fluctuate? - Top view of crop anonymous person holding toy airplane on colorful world map drawn on chalkboard

I would like to know whether it is possible to find the range that airline fares for a particular airline for a particular route can fluctuate. I know it is based on demand/occupancy for the route and other varying factors.

Even with all the varying factors, there has to be a range for the airfares, for e.g. a economy ticket between DFW and BOS, I believe would never go to 100000 USD. Is there a way to find the practical range within which it fluctuates?



Best Answer

If the airline is a "traditional" one then most likely there are a number of rates entered in the GDS and what you are after are those. Typically a GDS rule has something like a start date, an end date, days of the week, number of stopovers allowed etc.

You can search on matrix.itasoftware.com for a given route and a given carrier direct and get a one month calendar (also untick "Only show flights and prices with available seats"):

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Air Canada won't charge you more than 288 CAD for YVR-YYZ one way or 576 return... normally. However if you check December:

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There's an exception. Basically: you need to see the GDS rules, however the airline can enter any rules any day so what you are after can not be done.




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Why does the best fare fluctuate for tickets on the same route?

Because there are hundreds of travel sites (not to mention the airlines' own sites) which all offer the same seats for sale at the same time, at any given moment there are thousands of seats being purchased and each purchase might bump up the fare for the next purchase on the same flight.

Do airline tickets go up the more you search?

Surprisingly, there is very little evidence that online travel sites are raising prices the more that you search for a specific trip. In fact, they tend to show lower prices to logged-in users.

Do flight prices go up and then down?

The simple answer to your basic question is Yes and sometimes in a matter of a few minutes. Best option is to set a price you're comfortable with and when you see tickets at or below that price, purchase them and don't look back. As normally suggested, it is best to always buy directly from the airline.

Why do flights vary in price so much?

Airfares are constantly fluctuating now more than ever. That's because airlines have access to better technology and more real-time information on passengers than ever before. With complex algorithms running their booking systems, the airlines are constantly tweaking prices based on shifts in demand or available seats.



How Airlines Price Flights




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