Bait-and-switch

I spent the last 90 minutes on Orbitz trying to find the best multicity fare for a trip to Washington and New Brunswick. Finally, I found the right combination and clicked the "Book It" button:

Twenty seconds later, I had signed in. Then I received this message:

Drat. How could the price jump so fast? Answer: It hadn't. I went back to the beginning and re-entered the data. Guess what?

I know that airline pricing is a very complicated, ever-changing, mix of stuff, but that's no excuse for promoting one price when your software knows it's higher.

There's the old story about the woman who goes into the butcher shop.

Lady: "$5 a pound for hamburger!?! The butcher down the street only charges $4/lb."

Butcher: "Why don't you buy your hamburger from him?

Woman: "He's sold out."

Butcher" "Lady, when we're out of hamburger, it's only $1 a pound."

The next three flights I chose were sold out.

When I finally found a flight that actually had seats, Orbitz told me:

This time I made it all the way to bottom of the final screen:

Then my screen froze. I waited ten minutes, then bailed. My "My Stuff" folder showed that I'd booked the flight. Time to pick a seat.

Uh oh. Looks like the skies are crowded. Six legs on my trip; not an aisle seat in the bunch.

Posted by Jay Cross at March 11, 2004 12:31 PM | TrackBack