Is this the latest budget airline smoke and mirrors trick?

Laughingbear

We recently booked flights to Berlin on the internet. We searched and found prices we thought were ok and decided to proceed to purchase however, at this point the airline said something along the lines of " the seats you selected have increased in price" do you wish to continue? The seats had gone up by £12/person

The same thing has just happened to my son where his seats went up by £30/person.

Is this the latest underhand move by the budget airlines to deceptively increase the cost of seats?

jpsartre

Which airline was this? I must have booked hundreds of flights over the years and I have never had this message when booking direct from the airline (from 3rd parties it happens from time to time). That said, in theory it's possibly that someone booked the last ticket at the price you were looking at before you completed your booking. Apparently this is fairly common when airlines like easyJet release new season tickets and everyone is trying to snap up the cheapest fares at the same time.

ic

As above, this tends to be a thing when linking through from comparison sites or travel agents, who do not have a live view of availability, only a recent view. The airline are telling you it has changed. However it is feasible that you have been pipped to the post by another customer when going through the checkout process - which frankly is just bad luck. Some airlines will hold tickets whilst you complete the checkout process - but not whilst they're only "in your basket".

soolin

I too would like to know the airline if this was a direct booking. I fly several times a year and have never had my prices increased whilst in the booking process. I use several airlines, including (for the first time in years) Ryanair this year where I have booked 3 return flights already.

The only time I ever had an increase was several years ago when I foolishly booked through onthebeach , and then my bargain holiday flights suddenly went up before I was able to pay.

Pollycat

Laughingbear wrote: »

We recently booked flights to Berlin on the internet. We searched and found prices we thought were ok and decided to proceed to purchase however, at this point the airline said something along the lines of " the seats you selected have increased in price" do you wish to continue? The seats had gone up by £12/person

The same thing has just happened to my son where his seats went up by £30/person.

Is this the latest underhand move by the budget airlines to deceptively increase the cost of seats?

I too would like to know which airline's website you were on.
Or if you were using one of the shonky 3rd party flight sellers such as eDreams, kiwi etc.