For years, I’ve recommended tracking the prices of hotel reservations and airline tickets after you’ve booked them to see if the prices drop. If they do, and your booking is flexible, you can usually cancel without penalty and rebook at the lower price.
It’s still solid — if time-consuming — advice. But now travelers can have a bot do the legwork as a wave of new apps trains artificial intelligence models on travel searches.
These apps springboard from the travel industry’s cancellation polices. Other than the most restrictive basic economy tickets, most U.S.-based legacy airlines allow travelers to cancel a flight and retain the cost as a credit for future bookings. (This works with more expensive refundable airfares, too, in which case the refund is in cash.)
“Airlines adjust fares constantly, so two people on the same flight routinely pay very different amounts, and most travelers have no idea the airline’s own rules let them recover the difference after booking,” said Bryan Dubno, the founder and chief executive of JetBack, an app that tracks airfares. “The mechanism exists. It’s just buried in fare rules and manual claim forms almost nobody has the time to navigate.”
When a fare drops, these apps go to the airlines to request refunds. They don’t otherwise alter the reservation, nor do they ask for a flier’s airline login information.
“The consumer effectively gains the opportunity to monitor the market,” Mareike Mohlmann, the chair of A.I. and business at Bentley University in Waltham, Mass., wrote in an email. “It is a small but meaningful shift from A.I. acting ‘on’ consumers to A.I. acting ‘for’ consumers.”
While tracking fare changes yourself remains free, most A.I. services charge a fee. Here are some of the emerging players.
Flights
JetBack
How it works: Users pay roughly $100 to join JetBack, after which the service monitors reservations its members make in economy class and above on major American carriers, including Alaska, American, Delta, JetBlue, Southwest and United.
Members send their confirmation emails to trips@jetbackapp.com. JetBack then continually monitors the price until departure and secures refunds if the price drops. If a ticket is refundable, the reimbursement goes to your original form of payment. If a ticket is nonrefundable, you’ll receive the difference in the form of an airline credit.
Cost: You pay $99.99 a year for unlimited use.
Bottom line: The company says the average savings is more than $415 per trip. The cost of joining might be daunting to anyone other than frequent fliers, though.
Junova
How it works: Junova monitors tickets on Alaska, American, Delta, Southwest and United. Users make a nonrestrictive reservation with one of these airlines directly. Then, having joined Junova for free, they send details of their booking to the app. If the price drops, the service updates the booking and directs the savings as a credit with the airline.
Cost: Members register a credit card, which Junova uses to charge its 20 percent “success fee” on any savings.
Bottom line: The nonmembership model makes it easy for occasional fliers to benefit from automation.
PAiback
How it works: The PAiback app works with major domestic carriers, including Alaska, American, Delta, Hawaiian and United.
Users make a reservation for a seat in the main cabin or better (excluding basic economy) and then forward the confirmation email to the app. If the price drops, the service requests a refund from the airline, generating a credit. This process repeats until departure.
The company says 60 percent of flights drop their prices and that the average savings is $250.
Cost: PAiback is free if nothing changes. Otherwise, it charges 20 percent on all savings, which means that, if you end up with a $50 credit from the airline, you’ll pay PAiback $10.
Bottom line: PAiback offers a low-risk entry into price monitoring.
Hotels
Mindtrip Stays
How it works: Like an A.I. assistant, Mindtrip can plan your journey from inspiration to flight, hotel and event bookings. Its new Mindtrip Stays arm focuses on hotel searches and bookings, often taking complex directions — for example, “In San Francisco, I want a suite for three friends with an ocean view, or connecting rooms, if cheaper” — and search for candidates from approximately 1.8 million properties globally.
While shopping, you can create a price alert for a hotel and receive notifications when the price drops. The service continues to monitor the price before the refund window closes and notifies you if it drops. With a refundable booking, the user can rebook at the new rate and cancel the previous reservation. The company offers price monitoring on more than 75 percent of its hotels. It says that just over half of all price drops happen at least 30 days out, and that 94 percent occur at least three days before the reservation date.
Cost: Like other online travel agencies, Mindtrip makes its money from commissions and fees from travel providers. For consumers, it’s free.
Bottom line: For those who prefer to book a room and then forget about it, Mindtrip Stays offers a passive way to optimize the price. The company plans to add price tracking to its Mindtrip Flights booking platform.
Flights and Hotels
Autopilot
How it works: Autopilot applies A.I. speed to both flight and hotel reservations. Travelers with nonrestrictive airline or hotel bookings forward their confirmation emails to trips@withautopilot.com.
With flights, Autopilot tracks fares on reservations in economy class and better on Alaska, American, Delta, JetBlue and United. It takes action on any price drops of $20 or more by contacting the airline and claiming the lower fare. If the fare is refundable, travelers will receive the refund in the form of payment that was used to buy the ticket. Nonrefundable fares generate an airline credit.
For hotel reservations, the service tracks the rates at Marriott, Hyatt and IHG hotels globally until the hotel cancellation deadline (reservations must be flexible; prepaid and nonrefundable bookings are excluded). It rebooks if the price drops and cancels the old reservation.
Cost: A 25 percent fee is charged to your credit card on any savings (a $9.99 a month upgrade to Autopilot Pro also works with flights and hotels that are booked using miles and rewards points).
Bottom line: Autopilot is slightly more costly than other apps, but it’s convenient for travelers with hotel and flight bookings on one itinerary.
- Credits: The New York Times
- Author: Elaine Glusac
- Illustration: Chanelle Nibbelink
