As anyone who has ever needed to make a last-minute flight change knows, emergencies and travel spontaneity can seriously cost you.
While myths around the "last-minute flight deal" persist, a number of reports show that flight prices are on average lowest somewhere between 28 to 35 days before travel and start to rise significantly the closer you get to takeoff.
DON'T MISS: Booking a Flight on This Day Could Save You 15%
What one has to pay to change a flight typically includes both a change fee and the difference between fares from the time you booked the flight. The former, which are often waived for frequent and business class travelers, typically start at $75 for domestic flights for U.S. airlines.
A Tech Exec's Flight Change Screenshot Is Going Viral
The fare change is where prices can jump significantly and, as one tech exec discovered, sometimes even reach the realm of the ridiculous.
Shaun Walker, who is the current CTO of IT consulting firm Cognizant, was traveling from the Microsoft (MSFT) MVP Summit in Seattle to his Florida home.
After trying to move back his American Airlines (AAL) flight to Palm Beach International Airport to a later time on April 14, Walker was given the option of a two-transfer evening flight for $639.31, or a one-transfer morning flight for the grand total of $2,147,483,647.
"I was looking for alternatives to change an American Airlines flight today… and was presented with these options!" Walker wrote on Twitter in a viral post that gathered nearly 3,000 likes.
Walker's followers and frequent fliers quickly started to poke fun at the $2 billion price tag. He also clarified that he had used flight aggregator Expedia (EXPE) to book the American Airlines flight and was presented with the $2 billion option when trying to change it through the platform.
"I certainly hope it's a window seat," wrote podcast host Jeff Hardy. "Perhaps it includes a second bag of pretzels?
"Perhaps American Airlines is now partnering with SpaceX ;)," Walker, who ended up sticking to his original flight, wrote to one of the responses to his tweet. Others suggested that, for that amount of money, he could buy his own plane and fly to Florida himself. (An average commercial Boeing (BA) costs around $415 million to build.)
Here's Why Last-Minute Flight Changes Can Cost You
Neither Expedia nor American Airlines immediately responded to TheStreet's request for comment on why the price presented to Walker was so high but Meta (META) director Killian Murphy suggested that it may have been caused by a coding error that moved a decimal point or added too many numbers.
While that seems like a likely explanation, flying has grown significantly more expensive as the cost of fuel rises — one estimate found that the average domestic flight cost rose by nearly 18% between 2023 and 2022.
Airline prices have long been highly volatile due to an ever-changing formula of demand, fuel price and pricing strategy that those same airlines work hard to keep under tight wraps.
In a recent report, Expedia said that those who scroll for flights on Sunday will get prices that are on average 5% lower for domestic flights and 15% for international ones.
"After peaking during the summer months, airfare prices dropped again for fall and are expected to rise again for the busy holiday period," Expedia wrote in its annual Air Travel Hacks report.
