Economy Class: All's Fair In Love & Fare Wars

Feb. 20 -- Plan far enough in advance and you can almost always take advantage of a fare war.

Recently, we've seen a new domestic fare war begin approximately three weeks after each previous fare war ended. If you plan at least 60 days in advance, you have a very good shot at being able to get fare war prices.

The need to analyze each fare war has grown increasingly more important. There are regional fare wars, system-wide fare wars, Internet fare wars and mini fare wars that affect just one city pair (on my site, we call these "Snooze You Lose" fares).

Compare any fare war price with the standard 14- or 21-day advance non-sale fare (ask your travel agent to help you if you don't know the standard fare in the market you're traveling). If the fare war price is 50 percent off the standard fare, you may want to jump on it or wait 24 hours to see what competitors come up with. If it's 60 percent off (or more), don't wait; purchase immediately.

More Than 250 different fares on NYC-L.A. Route

Fare wars pop up regularly because yield management people send out the word that sales need a boost. They're usually initiated at the beginning of the week. One airline starts a fare war by lowering prices on select flights (highly competitive routes are most likely to be the prime focus). Within hours other airlines in competitive markets fall in line. They might match the fares the leader initiated, or they might undercut them. Fare wars increase the already mind-boggling array of prices available on any flight. One recent fare war resulted in a total of more than 250 different fares for a New York-Los Angeles roundtrip, ranging from $290–$2,334.

During the first hours of a fare war, travel agents can be placed at a disadvantage by the airlines. Information on their computer systems may be incomplete. The sale fares may be listed, but the travel agents may not be able to access the fare rules or may be unable to ticket.

Book a fare war ticket too soon and you may pay too much. Airlines update fares three times a day (Monday through Friday), usually at 12:30 p.m., 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. EST. On weekends they update at 5 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. When a major airline starts a fare war they try to take advantage of the 8 p.m. weekday or 3 p.m. Sunday update so the competition is prevented from matching fares until the following update time — 12:30 p.m. the next day. This gives the originator a 24-hour price and advertising advantage. It can pay to wait a day or so after a fare war starts to allow the airlines time to scramble, meet prices, open up seats and try to come up with advantages that scoop the airline that initiated the price cuts.