Expedia Price Match Promise

I recently purchased 3 plane tickets through Expedia for a total price of $877.20. During the checkout process, I was given the option to purchase a Price Match Promise for $5 per ticket ($15 for all 3 tickets) which, according to the program rules, would result in a refund being issued for the difference if the price were to drop below my purchase price between the purchase date and the date of travel. I decided to purchase the Price Match Promise, and I did in fact qualify for a refund:



A couple of things to point out… First, the Price Match Promise relies on the user to manually check for price updates. There is no automated process for Expedia to check on the purchaser’s behalf. After all, why should they make any efforts to refund any of your money?

Second, I started wondering when my airplane ticket price would reach its nadir before climbing in the week or two before the flight. Here’s a chart that shows the dates and prices:



In summary, the nadir of $793.20 occurred on Tuesday, May 22, 2018 which was 25 days before my flight. The prices rose in the last 2 weeks before my flight, and another sharp increase occurred 3 days before departure.

I’m sure that many people have performed more comprehensive analyses of ticket prices relative to departure dates and have stratified results by domestic vs. international travel, one way vs. round trip, day of the week of departure, and other factors. However, this was my personal experience. I hope it helps someone decide whether or not to invest $5/ticket on Expedia’s Price Match Promise.