Yapta to the rescue
Recently I signed up on a new web site called Yapta. Yapta tracks airline ticket prices both before and after purchase. If you thinking about going somewhere you can enter your trip information, and the site will keep track of the current price and alert you when the price drops. If you have booked a flight, you can enter your reservation information, and the site will notify you if the price drops. The key with a booked reservation is that airfare rules let you rebook is a lower fare comes available, and your price alert will include the necessary information to request a credit from your airline.
Using the site paid off for me tonight. I’m flying to Seattle in December to attend the Windows in Higher Education Conference. When I booked my airfare a couple weeks ago, the cost was $388.80. Tonight Yapta notified me that the fare had dropped to $228.80. I’m flying American, so after the $100 fee for re-booking the ticket, I was able to get the remaining $60 as a travel voucher. Not a bad deal. Paying the change fee stinks, but I’m still ahead of where I would have been otherwise.
There is another great site out there that you might not be aware of called Airfarewatchdog.com.
These guys search thousands of airfares by hand every day to come up with the best possible deals. They cover all of the discount carriers as well as specials listed only on airline websites. Plus you can sign up for a daily newsletter which let’s you know about the best fares from your city.
Worth checking out…
I’m familiar with Airfarewatchdog.com. What I like about Yapta that Airfarewatchdog doesn’t do is track my booked reservations and let me know if the price drops so I can request a refund from the airline. General fare updates aren’t as useful because a low fare may not be applicable to the specific flight segments on which I’m booked. If you’re just browsing for fares and have the flexibility to take advantage of deals, then a site like Airfarewatchdog can be useful. Thanks for the comment.