I checked flight schedules and prices on Continental.com, I noticed on the return flights that had the best flight time, the website said one ticket left. I was happy with the price, so I bit the bullet and booked. Just out of curiosity, I checked the prices for the same dates/flights, again, the website was telling me that there was one ticket left. Anybody else had this experience? A sales gimick perhaps?

This isn't limited to CO. I've found over the years that any airlines site's dealing with "tickets left" or which seats are filled on the seating charts (up until a day or 2 before departure) are notoriously inaccurate. Don't think it's a sales gimick.

Could it be that there is one ticket left at that price?

Also, if you judge by the seating chart, there will always be open seats that you can't see. Some are reserved for elites to select. Others are under airport control.

Maybe the website does not get updated automatically? Maybe only once a day? This would be my guess.

"There is x ticket left at this price" refers to how many seats in that <b>fare bucket</b> at that particular moment. There's nothing to prevent CO to later put more seats in that same fare bucket.

Is it a gimmick? Sure, but they can also NOT put more seats in that fare bucket too.

why would I care once I got the ticket(s) at a price I was happy with?