A funny thing happened to me this morning, while I was trying to book a round-trip flight from New York to Salt Lake City. After finding a low $324 fare, selecting my seats, entering my personal information, providing my credit card and hitting Submit, I got this message:
The fare quoted earlier of $324.30 has changed. The new fare for this itinerary is $383.20. To continue your purchase click Continue. Otherwise click Start Over to return to the Reservations input screen and select different dates and times. After accepting the fare change, you may need to re-select your seats.
Huh? This was like going into BestBuy, telling the salesman you want a $399 color TV, going to the cash register, handing over your credit card, and then having the cashier telling you that the new price of the TV was $499. No business in the world changes the price of a product after a customer has agreed to pay the quoted price.
Except, it turns out, the airline industry.
Right after this happened, I called Delta’s Media Relations team and reached Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines spokesperson Paul Skrbec. He explained that “airline fares change by the minute” and that many factors cause prices to change. He later sent me this statement:
“Airline fares can be affected by a variety of factors, including number of seats available within a particular fare class for people traveling on the same itinerary; the cost of providing the service; the cost of jet fuel; time and date of purchase; the route flown; and the fare class purchased. Delta offers a wide range of fares for leisure and business travelers, and our best fares are always available at delta.com.”
Skrebec’s implication was clear, at least to me. He was suggesting that something changed during the time I was trying to book my flight, and that this is what caused my initial fare to rise.
There’s only one flaw in this argument: it happened twice in a row.
Before I went to Delta.com, I tried to book the same trip on Orbitz. The exact same thing happened. I found a fare for $324.30, went through the whole process, and then got the message that the fare went up. That’s why I went to Delta, to see if the same thing would occur on their site.
To recap, something didn’t “change” during the time I was booking. Twice in a row, I saw a cheap Delta fare that was then replaced by a more expensive fare.
My headline suggests that Delta could be engaging in bait and switch tactics, because that’s what appears to be happening. Twice in a row, they got me to enter all my information to book a remarkably affordable flight, only to then change the price. Once a consumer has invested all that time in entering their information, they will be reluctant to walk away just to save – in my case – about $60.
Even if the airline isn’t deliberately manipulating these situations – and I have no proof that they are – Delta is engaging in a business practice few industries would tolerate: quoting a price, and then changing the price after the customer agrees to buy the item. Even in the ticketing industry – for concerts, theater and pro sports – where ticket prices fluctuate wildly, consumers get a set period of time, say 15 minutes, to enter their information and buy the tickets at the quoted price.
I find this despicable. Delta is teaching customers that the airline’s word means nothing, that all they care about is their own self-interest, and that our time is utterly worthless. What do you think? Should we all just start changing prices in the middle of a transaction?
Bruce Kasanoff ghostwrites (and edits) articles for entrepreneurs.
Image: a screenshot of the actual message the author received when Delta.com changed his fare.