Hotwire "FlexSaver" Fares (airfare)

[BEAV]

This must be pretty new, because I didn't see it a few days ago when I was checking air fares on Hotwire.

Hotwire is now offering "FlexSaver" fares which allow you to select a window of departure time on airline tickets. They have offered this feature for quite awhile on their weekend air/hotel packages, but have now extended to purchases solely for airline tickets.

Departure times are broken down into the following time windows:

Morning: 6am-11am

Afternoon: 11am-4pm

Evening: 4pm-10:00pm

Late Evening: 10:00pm-11:59pm

This feature offers a significant advantage over Priceline, in my opinion. Had this been available about two weeks ago, I would have purchased air fare from Hotwire. I was looking to return home from Miami the same day I disembark a cruise ship. Since the earliest you can expect to disembark ships is approximately 9:00-10:00am, using Hotwire (or Priceline) for same-day flights is impossible since you had to agree to departures any time from 6:00am onward. Conventional coach fares for my routing and dates (SFO-MIA) were running about $285, but only on flights returning from Miami early in the morning. Flights leaving from Noon onward (which is what I needed) were running $400+. With coach fares that high, I discovered we could fly home first class for just $100 more, so wound up paying $500 per person round trip (coach outbound, first returning).

Hotwire now offers my route, dates, and required departure times for $268 under their FlexSaver option.

Narrowing down your departure time to 5 hour windows is a big advantage over the old 6:00am-10:00pm timeframe.

Wonder if Priceline will follow suit anytime soon?

[thereuare]

This is a BIG improvement.... thank you for pointing it out!

It's great to see Hotwire continuing to differentiate itself from the competition and make their product more appealing to a variety of users who otherwise would be unable to use their service.

Interesting how their vacation product still shows a completely opaque airline routing... maybe this too will change in the future?

At least now Hotwire's airfare product is now a realistic alternative, although i'm sure users will still need to do their homework... i just search for a random flight and came up with a best fare of $322, while their best non-opaque flight (with times known) was $315! :)

I'm sure in due time we'll have enough users comment as to whether they have found the pricing of the new format to be competitive (although it may not be competitve now due to the already rock bottom pricing by the airline industry... that may change in the years to come and airlines eventually get back their pricing power).

[BEAV]

At least now Hotwire's airfare product is now a realistic alternative, although i'm sure users will still need to do their homework... i just search for a random flight and came up with a best fare of $322, while their best non-opaque flight (with times known) was $315! :)

I'm sure in due time we'll have enough users comment as to whether they have found the pricing of the new format to be competitive (although it may not be competitve now due to the already rock bottom pricing by the airline industry... that may change in the years to come and airlines eventually get back their pricing power).

Hotwire seems to be a crap shoot from my observations. Sometimes the fares are practically the same as conventional fares (if not higher) then other times I've found them to be quite the bargain, as was the case in my SFO-MIA search. Because of this, I always check Hotwire because you never know when they're going to surprise you.

[thereuare]

We're in agreement...

All too often users are looking for the 'holy grail' where one site has the best price all the time, and unfortunately it doesn't exist. :) We have always advocated doing your homework and knowing prices in an area from various sources before purchasing any travel arrangements. Doing research is what prompted us to create the Hotel Checker and other tools... anything to make the process simpler and more efficient for our users.

As hotel occupancy rates have begun to climb over the last year, it has required a bit more research to make sure you're getting the best price... hotels no longer always have the high vacancy rates they require to release rooms to the opaque services. As well, as occupancy levels (and rates) continue to climb, it makes other sources which operate completely different from the opaque suppliers, such as ECT, a very realistic option.

Since ECT actually owns blocks of hotel rooms at a fixed rate, they're more likely to be a good source during times of high/peak demand. They typically set their prices for a time period and don't fluctuate them day-to-day based upon current occupancy rates, like the hotel will, so they are a good source to check during peak demand (especially if it's a peak day(s) within an otherwise slow period), less of an option during very slow times.

HINT: we're working on a new tool for EasyClick too... stay tuned, as i expect good things to come for all of us in 2005

Edit: done... EASYCLICKTRAVEL Search

[cakobau]

I just went to Hotwire to see what they could do for an airfare, and I noticed that they've redesigned their airfare search. There are now three different types of fares offered:

"Clearance Fares" are fully opaque. Flight times can be anytime during the day.

"FlexSaver Fares" are moderately opaque. Flight times are offered within a 5 hour range, e.g., 6:00am-11:00am departure. The airline is not named.

"Regular Fares" are transparent. Full itinerary, with airline flight number and even stripped-down fare rules (no mention of booking class though, even when you click on fare rules). I suspect that this latter category might even earn miles.

FYI, just a heads-up.

[BEAV]

"Regular Fares" are transparent. Full itinerary, with airline flight number and even stripped-down fare rules (no mention of booking class though, even when you click on fare rules). I suspect that this latter category might even earn miles.

FYI, just a heads-up.

I think you're correct. The "regular fares" are just that........the same prices you can buy from the airline (except adding Hotwire's service fee) or Expedia, Travelocity, etc, etc.