111op

Hi, I noticed this curious thing about Orbitz. I searched for some flights on Orbitz, and when I indicated there was 1 traveling, the prices were cheaper than when I indicated there were 2. Obviously I'm tempted to book for 2 separately, but I'm concerned that there is truly just 1 seat left....

Have you noticed this before?

Very curious.

cmt

I didn't understand this: <<Obviously I'm tempted to book for 2 separately, but I'm concerned that there is truly just 1 seat left....>>
It would be nice to have some way around this pricing, but wouldn't you get the higher rate for one if you tried to book for two, but separately? Or maybe I'm misundertsanding.

m_kingdom2

Two tickets cost more than one, I'd never ever realised that, and I suppose two weeks accommodation costs more than one?

You're talking rubbish, look at the taxes and things like that, honestly!

111op

Well, I'll give you a rundown of what I did. I decided to run the following experiment. I had two parallel browsers. I put in everything. The ticket came out to be roughly $620 per ticket. I bought one of them at that price. When I went to the other and tried to buy it at that price, the price was no longer available.

Poof!

If I had started with saying that two were traveling, then the tickets came out to be at least $800 for each.

So, obviously I was in a bind. I didn't want to book a separate flight for my mom. I called Orbitz. Apparently there's a courtesy cancel in this case. I canceled the flight I booked, but there's a $6 fee.

So... Very hard to outsmart Orbitz, I'm afraid.

111op

Well, m_k2, as usual, you're talking rubbish.

I know my math very well, thanks. I can give you a rundown on the Borel-Cantelli Lemmas and why monkeys will type the complete works of Shakespeare infinitely often, if you're so inclined, but I doubt that your small brain can tolerate it. It's as black as the clothes of Helmut Lang and Jil Sander.

111op

Actually I just received an e-mail from Orbitz. The fee is $10, customarily charged by them on all reservations.

I need to try this again....

cmt

I just reread your initial post. I had misread it, and I thought you meant that if you bought two tickets together, it would cost LESS than twice the price of one. That's why I couldn't understand how you could get the cheaper "two for" rate if you wanted only one ticket. Never mind.... I was just confused.

111op

So, you see my problem now? Basically if you asked for 2 initially, you'd get billed the higher rate. But if you bought the tickets separately, you might get one of them at a lower rate.

I suppose if you had a cancelation to play with, it's ok to experiment. I sort of panicked a bit, when one went through and the other wouldn't.

bettyk

We need to offer a reading comprehension course for some of our Fodorites. I knew exactly what 111op was saying and was very surprised that other didn't!

111op

I'll give you another example.

Now, for some alternate flights on Continental, for 1 passenger, the base rate started off at $564.

If I said that two were traveling, the base rate went up to $597.

So, if I wanted these flights, I could again play the game of trying to book the two separately and get a discount of $60.

I'm pretty sure that this might work, as the increase wasn't dramatic. Perhaps for the Delta flights I wanted, there truly was 1 seat left at a lower price.

Still, potentially you could save by booking all your tickets separately -- but I obviously wouldn't recommend it. What if for some reason there wasn't a courtesy cancelation?

cmt

Yes, I see what you mean. I guess to make sure there are seats to spare you could enter an inquiry re 3 or 4 seats, to be safe, and then if there's availablility for 3 or 4, hurry up and in quick succession purchase two separate individual tickets. I didn't realize you could cancel without a huge penalty. I always have a huge flash of anxiety a second before purchasing a flight online, because I thought I couldn't change it. (Maybe I'm better off telling myself that, actually.)

m_kingdom2

Jil Sander has lots of oranges/yellows/reds/ochres in her pallette this season, Helmut Lang has the usual coloured metallic interjections such as blue which is juxtaposed with a monochome background.

111op

Ok, their stuff is too expensive for me anyway. I'm glad that you can afford it.

But just remember one thing, m_k2 -- I don't need you to lecture me on mathematics, even though I admit that my arithmetic skills are getting rusty. It's a topic I know well, and I suspect that I know it much better than you do, thank you very much.

m_kingdom2

Sadly the irony here is that I'm quite positive my mathematics is far more advanced than yours!

I'm sure that the reason for this price increase is either that you're not analysing it properly or you'd find that after booking one flight the "second" would also go up - these sites aren't out to get you!

111op

Really, m_kingdom? Do you mind answering these questions?

1. Express exp(i theta) in terms of the trigonometric functions.

2. Without using a calculator, explain whether e^pi is larger than pi^e.

3. State the two Borel-Cantelli Lemmas, and explain why monkeys typing at a typewriter independently will crank out the complete works of Shakespeare infinitely often, with probability 1.

4. State the simple form of the Central Limit Theorem, followed by the Lindeberg-Levy version.

5. State Ito's Lemma in stochastic calculus.

6. Solve the differential equation f'(x) = f(x).

I can give you some more questions if you're so inclined. Do you want to test my math ability here?

strega

m_kingdom2, did you wear all these same styles when you were posting as "Miles Kingdom"? Have you invented a double? Is that doubling act what makes you fancy yourself a mathematician? This is all so mysterious. But when it comes to real skills, I'd depend on 111op.

m_kingdom2

It?s been a while my dear:

1.The first is very easy - Rcis(theta)= Rcos (alpha) + Rsin (beta)

2.the former as the higher the power the larger the absolute value

3. If you?re pressing random keys, and you sort the letters out you can write most anything - so it?s something like that?

4. That?s stats and is to do with moving from discrete (counted) to contiunous distributions. e.g. If P(X<10) on a binomial you?d take P(X<10.5) (or maybe 9.5 - I forget now).

5. I?ve no recall of ever learning this

6. Integrate both sides with integrating factors and find the specific solution

111op

Obviously, I've more important things to do now (like *really* plan a trip in two weeks ).

But in case you're curious, the simplest form of the central limit theorem states that for a sequence of i.i.d. (i.e., independently, identically distributed random variables) with 0 mean and finite variance (without loss of generality take this to be 1), (X1 + ... + Xn) / sqrt(n) converges in distribution/law to the standard normal variable. The Lindeberg-Levy form is much more general -- the random variables need not have a variance, for example.

As for a function whose derivative is equal to itself, obviously it's got to be the exponential function + constant.

Granted, anyone can find all of this through a Google search, but please, m_kingdom, don't claim to know something that you don't (even on random internet chat forums) and expect not to be called for it.

m_kingdom2

Ironically, my degree (all those years ago) included modules in linear algebra, calculus, and statistics... My career changed direction, but I still passed the exams!

111op

Ok. I did well in Latin in high school. Would I claim that I know Latin now? No. I can't even conjugate "to be."

Could we not argue about this, m_kingdom? Sometimes you just have to admit that you're wrong, even on internet chat forums. And it behooves you to admit this, or at least keep silent, when it's been (tacitly) proven that you're indeed clueless on certain subjects.