About Rick Seaney, CEO FareCompare

Rick Seaney

Rick Seaney, co-founder of FareCompare.com - is a world-class air travel expert.

FareCompare.com presides over a kingdom of sophisticated software that searches out fares and destinations at a billion combinations per query - while keeping track of 500 airlines serving more than 270,000 markets around the globe.

And all of Rick's data is updated continuously - in real-time.

No wonder he's the media's go-to guy for all things air travel. He's got the answers. And he loves to share his knowledge.

That's why Rick and the team created FareCompare.com - to help everyone become an air travel expert, and get the best deals first -- every time they fly.

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Cheap Summer Airfare: Avoid Blackout, Surcharge Dates

April 30, 2010 | Posted in: Airfare Increases, Holiday Travel, Peak Travel Day Surcharge, Pricing Activity, Tips and Tricks | 2 comments

cheap summer airfare blackout surcharge dates

Attention, summer travelers: You’ve seen this before – airlines advertising sales with “some blackout dates” – meaning days when the sale prices don’t apply.

To add insult to injury this summer, some of these “non-sale” days also include special “peak travel day” surcharges – that make these flights that much pricier.

Be alert for blackout dates and surcharges especially around holiday periods, year round.

For example, the blackout days for the current AirTran sale that ends May 6 include Memorial Day (May 31). Flying that day will not be especially cheap – nor will flying on the Fourth of July, thanks to the “peak travel day” surcharges some airlines have added.

In fact, this summer, it’s going to be difficult to avoid “peak travel day” surcharges – because there are so many of them.

Let me show you why – and tell you how you can still save on summer vacation travel. So keep reading…

Cheap Summer Airfare: Avoid Blackout, Surcharge Dates

Take 3: Domestic Airline Ticket Fuel Surcharges are Back

April 21, 2010 | Posted in: Airfare Increases, Delta, Fuel Surcharges, Fuel Watch | 4 comments

domestic airline ticket fuel surcharges

Many times airfare hike attempts look a bit like a ball traveling through a pachinko machine — and that is the case with this latest “fuel surcharge” airfare hike attempt by Delta.

This morning, it looked as though this Delta-initiated hike (via a fuel surcharge) was going to fail, especially after both Delta and United rolled back. However, it appears I may have been premature in seeing it as a flop.

That’s because Delta has now reversed itself, and at 1 pm,  jumped back into the hike – joined by Virgin America and Alaska (American is still participating).

There is another domestic airfare feed at 8pm EDT time tonight, which is likely to see United jump back in (they also dropped out when Delta did this morning).

We know who’s in – but, who is not going along with this hike? Keep reading…

Take 3: Domestic Airline Ticket Fuel Surcharges are Back

Domestic Airline Ticket Fuel Surcharges are Back, Briefly

April 21, 2010 | Posted in: Airfare Increases, American, Delta, Fuel Surcharges, Fuel Watch, United | 0 comments

domestic airline ticket fuel surcharges

This is an update to last night’s post that revealed Delta Air Lines filed a $20 roundtrip fuel surcharge on tens of thousands of mostly smaller city-pairs.

However, Delta has now backed away from that; the carrier removed its surcharge filing – but not before both American and United matched this $20 surcharge.

By this morning though, United pulled out, leaving only American with the new surcharge.

What’s going on? You could say these new fuel surcharges are just another way of saying “airfare hike”. Face it, fuel prices – now at a little more than $80 per barrel – have not risen above airline estimates. So, the surcharge is yet another gambit to try to bring in extra revenue, much like those “peak travel” day surcharges are (and the successful bag fees).

The airlines haven’t had much luck with regular price hikes this year, so they’re trying whatever they can, to see what works – but so far, this latest attempt seems to be fizzling.

However, I do expect to see more price hike attempts, in a variety of guises, as the busy summer season approaches.

Price Fixing Scandal: Virgin Atlantic vs. British Airways

April 12, 2010 | Posted in: Airfare Increases, Europe, Fuel Surcharges, Pricing Activity, Virgin | 0 comments

price fixing scandal british airways virgin atlantic

A trial is now underway in London featuring three former (and one current!) British Airways executives, who are accused of conspiring with arch-foe Virgin Atlantic to fix fuel surcharge prices during the years 2004 to 2006.

Virgin Atlantic execs are not on trial, according to the Daily Mail, as VA was the whistle-blower in the case.

British Airways, meanwhile, has already paid more than $520 million in fines and court settlements (including nearly $230 million to the U.S. Justice Dept. alone).

And even though Virgin Atlantic is not being charged in “the debacle” as they’re calling it in the UK, there should be plenty of embarrassment to go around during the trial, which is expected to last about 3-months.

Analysis & Advice: Airfare Hike Underway, Ticket Prices Firming

April 2, 2010 | Posted in: Airfare Increases, Pricing Activity, United | 0 comments

analysis advice airfare hike ticket prices

Late Wednesday, United Airlines initiated a relatively small system-wide domestic airfare hike: 

  • $4 roundtrip (for flights under 1,000 miles)
  • $8 roundtrip (for longer flights)

This hike is included on United’s routes that overlap those of the low-cost airlines.

The remaining four legacy airlines (American, Continental, Delta and US Airways) matched on Thursday – but there was a notable lack of participation by the major low-cost carriers (Southwest, JetBlue, and AirTran).

So far this year, there have been a handful of system wide domestic airfare hike attempts – and typically they have amounted to relatively small increases, certainly compared to hikes during the years 2005 to 2008.

We ran a quick analysis comparing domestic prices points from Jan. 1, 2010 to the end-of-day on Thursday, April 1, 2010 and it showed that airlines have had a tough time hiking fares, system-wide, – with the only “over-$20″ roundtrip hikes occurring on trans-border Canadian routes.

However, domestic airlines have increased pricing power through the use of “peak travel day surcharges”, plus by holding fewer and more-restricted sales, as well as controlled departure date windows, bag fee increases and tighter yield management controls.  Additionally, airlines that fly internationally have been able to keep price points 30 to 50% higher than last year at this same time.

Advice to Airfare Shoppers: At the moment travelers shopping for domestic departures after mid-June are experiencing sticker shock – and should wait a few weeks until airlines begin rolling out deeper summer sales.

Another AirFare Hike Attempt (2nd of the Year) Fizzles Out

February 15, 2010 | Posted in: Airfare Increases, Airlines, Pricing Activity | 1 comment

KEY WORDS

Over this long, holiday weekend, we’ve seen a rollback of the attempted $10 roundtrip airfare hike initiated by United Airlines last week.

Yes, all the legacy carriers matched going into the weekend – but then the system-wide increase began to fizzle with most of the legacy airlines essentially rolling back to pre-hike pricing as of lunchtime today (and it now appears that all will do so).

This modest hike was the second to fail this year – out of two attempts.

Airfare Hike Update: All Legacy Airlines Match United Hike

February 12, 2010 | Posted in: Airfare Increases, Airlines, Pricing Activity, United | 0 comments

airfare hike update legacy airlines match united hike

An update on my earlier story about the second airfare hike of the year:

Today, Continental and Delta matched the modest hike initiated by United (which US Airways and American began matching on Thursday). This hike is $10 roundtrip.

So now, all five legacy airlines – plus Alaska – have joined the hike. The low-cost carriers, however, have not participated.

I’ll update as warranted.

Looks Like a New (but modest) Airfare Hike is Underway

February 11, 2010 | Posted in: Airfare Increases, United | 0 comments

new airfare hike

Late Wednesday (Feb. 10), FareCompare.com’s proprietary airfare tracking system noted significant airfare increase activity, initiated by United Airlines.

United hiked domestic U.S. airfares by a modest $10 roundtrip ($5 one-way) on over 15,000 routes – and both US Airways and American began matching on Thursday.

I would not be surprised to see both Delta and Continental match within the next 24 hours, given their efforts a few weeks ago in the first airfare hike attempt of 2010 (the attempt was a failure).

As in most legacy carrier airfare hikes, sale and competitive low cost airline route overlap fares have been spared the increase.

In addition to the domestic hike attempt Wednesday evening, we have noted over the past week airfare increase activity on a smaller number of routes based on trip distance — Southwest has matched this hike on competitive overlap.

Note: Amidst the domestic airfare increase activity the past 7 days, Southwest launched a widely matched 3 day airfare sale (ends Feb. 11) for late winter and spring departures — underscoring the fact that domestic U.S. ticket price firmness still requires a dose of discounting to fill aircraft to capacity.

In the meantime, legacy airlines continue to use the relatively new technique of peak travel day surcharges (filed in the same manner as fuel surcharges) to generate additional revenue on the most popular dates of travel.

As for this latest airfare hike attempt, we will send out an update if it falters in the next 48-hours.

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