All Airlines Charging Same Fare?

[John Galt III]

Hi, I just checked air fares on Expedia and Kayak, for going from City A to City B, round trip, for a certain leave and return date, and all the different airlines had the same price of $368. Travel date is December, 2012. Is it now OK for the airlines to not compete? Does this happen to anyone else? Last time I used a website for travel, there were a lot of different prices for the same trip, now every price is $368. I must be in the Twilight Zone. Any clues appreciated. JG3

 

[jebmke]

There is no requirement that they have different prices. In fact, as long as they don't collude and fix prices, it is legal if one airline leads and everyone follows. They just cannot conspire to fix prices.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

I found if you are doing it way in advance you get prices like that.

 

[scrabbler1]

I remember from my college economics classes back in the 1980s that oligopolies (an industry with few players such as airlines and carmakers) often had matching prices. A smaller scale of this was seeing gas stations at the same intersection often charging the same price for gasoline (at least back then). If one station lowered its price, the other(s) had to match it or else they would lose too much business. I agree that this borders on collusion if there is evidence that the competitors are getting together to "fix" prices artificially high.

 

[John Galt III]

Thanks for the replies ! This weekend I will check the actual airlines' websites for their prices.