Alaska Releases Its Low Fare Calendar

When it comes to technology, Alaska tends to be ahead of the curve when compared to other airlines. Their latest release? They now have a low fare calendar that shows you the lowest fares for an entire month for both your outbound and return.

This isn’t exactly a new idea; British Airways, for example, has had it for quite a long time and Southwest has had its “Shortcut” for some time as well, but anything that can be done to improve the booking process is a welcome addition.

You enter your search criteria just as you would on any site. Then when you select the low fare calendar, it brings up this view:

Pretty easy, and if your dates are flexible, it can save you good money. But your dates have to be really flexible for this to matter. I mean, if you’re putting together a weeklong summer vacation, you might be able to switch weeks, but I don’t know how helpful it is for the majority of people. That’s probably why it’s not the default search on their website.

For me, there are better ways to do this. I think you can get a lot of the benefit by using the implementation that JetBlue and Virgin America use. They show you the flights for the days you chose, but at the top they have tabs with the lowest price on the three days on either side of your date, like this.

But hey, this IS an improvement over what they have now, and I would like to commend them for actually showing the price including taxes on that first page. My only real complaint is that when you choose your flights, it takes you to the old page that shows the roundtrip flights by price. Personally, I prefer the search by schedule that shows lowest fares on all the outbound and then return flights. It’s easier to put options together. Fortunately, you can still get there by clicking again from the search by price page, but that takes yet another click.

So, nice work by Alaska, but nothing revolutionary here. I’d like to see something with more filtering options than just First Class so you can really find the lowest fare on flights that would work for you on each day. One of these days, we’ll get there.

Brett

4 responses to “Alaska Releases Its Low Fare Calendar”

Artie

Jul 24, 2008

Hey CF,

I LOVE the calendar feature. I have never flown Alaska, but Allegiant has the calendar feature – like you said, it is a great feature for leisure travelers looking for great deals. In that respect, big props to American Airlines for having this calendar feature option for their AAdvantage awards bookings. It makes booking a travel award SO super easy; indeed, I have miles with AA and Delta – I have never been able to redeem with Delta because a) they never have flights available when I need them and b) their booking system is so dang complicated!

I’m puzzled that you prefer the 3 day feature over the calendar feature. I understand your argument, but aren’t more options better than less? With on quick view, I can get a general idea for the best time to schedule meetings with clients in various locales to save money. Still a win.

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Wes

Jul 24, 2008

I second the Allegiant mention. Great feature, now if only they could show you the TOTAL price right away instead of making you go through 3-4 other pages of additional charges…

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CF

Jul 24, 2008

Artie – I like the 3 day feature because then I get to see actual flight availability for the days I want on the first screen. If I truly had a month to play with, then the calendar would be great. Usually, I may have a day or two to play with but not much more. The B6/VX integration allows me to see all the flight options on the day I want while still keeping an eye on pricing on surrounding days.

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zoom

Jul 25, 2008

CF–
LOVE the low-fare calendar. Alaska does a great job with this. Previously, I’ve used the Travelocity “flexible dates” function–or simply gone over to my Galileo system to grind down to the lowest rates. The low-fare calendar is an easy fix to this–definitely a positive move to offset the new increases in their mileage redemption levels (yecch.).

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