kirker

I've encountered a rather odd anomaly I'm hoping one of you guys can shed some light on. Last night I was doing some random searching for flights between the US West Coast and the UK, and I stumbled upon the following fare on Google Flights:

https://www.google.com/flights/#sear...017-05-19;sc=b

Suffice it to say, I was taken aback: $1,249 in Virgin Upper all the way from SFO?? Sounded way too good to be true ... and unfortunately that appears to be the case. My first inkling something odd was up was the "cabin tip" above the flight list that I could "fly nonstop in First Class" for the same price. Even putting aside the ludicrousness of a bona fide TATL F fare costing that little money, I assume everyone here knows that VS has famously never had an F section on any variation of jet, only Upper Class.

So then I picked the two nonstop SFO-MAN flights, which I assume are new, and got this:

https://www.google.com/flights/#sear...SFO0VS125;sc=b

Google Flights still has the fare listed at $1,249, but to book it via either VS or DL would cost $7,819 (and btw I checked both sites - that's the actual price shown). I spent 45 minutes plugging in various dates and flights, including some connecting through ATL, and always got the same thing: the Google Flights price was inexplicably a fraction of the actual price.

Anyway, I assumed it was some sort of weird glitch, except I tried it again tonight and it's still doing the same freakin' thing!! It had the bit about booking for $1,249 through a travel agent last night as well, which I did not attempt. Once again, I punched in various dates over the next six months with fares under $1,500, and each time I get more variations of the same: the actual price is always at least $3,500.

So: has anyone else encountered this problem before? To state the somewhat obvious, I know Google Flights "lags" on occasion and displays fares that are no longer available, but a) I've never seen such a lag last more than an hour or two and b) I'm doubtful this fare was ever available in the first place. (If only!) I'm not even sure what to call it - it's an "error fare" in one sense, but not the context generally used on FT, and if anything it seems like the problem is on Google's end ... which by itself is odd, seeing as they don't have errors very often (and certainly not ones lasting 30 hours and counting), plus they of course own ITA.

Any thoughts? Even better: can any of you guys devise a workaround that'll actually ticket the suckers at that price?!?

kirker

Crap, I forgot there was already a separate thread about the (legitimate) flights on this route for around $2K. Mods, please feel free to consolidate if you see fit, but I still think it's bizarre that GF continues to show unbookable fares.

SFO777

This is a Premium Economy fare. Seems to appear due to a fare code discrepancy between DL and VS.
VS uses G for Premium Economy. DL thinks G is Business.

Armodeen

As above. I also thought it was my lucky day when I found £950 UC returns from the UK to US, but on further investigation it turns out it is a G fare which DL incorrectly thinks is business. You'd think they would align their codes.

I was wondering when someone would post it to be honest.

EZEDoesIt

Already discussed in the DL forum: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...s-changes.html

925

Delta sent me an email about their new codeshare on Virgin Atlantic SEA-LHR. I looked on ITA and found $1318 in G, which they say books into F on DL4349 on a 787 on 4/26 and a return 787 on DL4348 5/3.

I've tried to book on several sites, with no other site quoting me a fare of under $10K. Can anyone figure out a way to book this?



How to buy this ticket
Tickets cannot be purchased directly from ITA Software.
Provide this information to a travel agent to help them match the fares found.
Make sure to provide the exact booking and fare codes shown.
Fare for 1 adult
Fare 1: Carrier DL XKP64US SEA to LON (rules)
Passenger type ADT, round trip fare, booking code G
Covers SEA-LHR (First)
$383.50
Fare 2: Carrier DL XKP64US LON to SEA (rules)
Passenger type ADT, round trip fare, booking code G
Covers LHR-SEA (First)
$383.50
DL YR surcharge (YR)
$250.00
US International Departure Tax (US)
$18.00
US September 11th Security Fee (AY)
$5.60
US Passenger Facility Charge (XF)
$4.50
United Kingdom Air Passenger Duty Apd (GB)
$186.80
United Kingdom Passenger Service Charge Departures (UB)
$51.70
USDA APHIS Fee (XA)
$3.96
US Immigration Fee (XY)
$7.00
US Customs Fee (YC)
$5.50
US International Arrival Tax (US)
$18.00
Subtotal per passenger
$1,318.06
Number of passengers
x1
Subtotal For 1 adult
$1,318.06
This ticket is non-refundable.
Changes to this ticket will

DeltaFlyingProf

The fare given (XKP64US) is an economy fare.

36902BRF

VS doesn't have F. These G fares on Delta codeshare on VS seem to be Premium Economy. A number of these have popped in the last day due to confusion over the G code.

DeJar

I have tried many OTAs and nothing will validate the fares on ITA and GF.

Seems these are actually premuim economy fares.

925

Thanks!

vantage03

Similar thing can be found LHR-LAX-LHR on VS metal with DL codeshare. Looks like booking class confusion to me.

Hoyaheel

There is a post in the Delta forum about some fare class confusion on existing Delta/Virgin itineraries too - someone seems to be mucking about behind the scenes in IT?

steveholt

This is a fare class glitch. DL and VS don't even offer transatlantic first class.