tripledip

I'm fairly certain this post will be moved to where it belongs. I couldn't find the right place to place it. I've found a routing on Googleflights and confirmed it on ITA, but neither JAL nor American (nor my travel agent) can book the fare I've found. I know how to use "scripts" like I know how to fly a 787, so that's not an option. Here's the routing: 7/5 EWR-MAN, 8/2 NRT-EWR. Googleflights and ITA show it on American with two JAL legs for $1088. Help?

obscure2k

Let's see if the folks in the Travel Technology Forum can help.
Good luck...
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

:D!

I can't find this on ITA. More details?

Do you really mean to go to the UK and return from Japan?

docbert

I suspect that ITA (and Google, which are fundamentally the same company) is mis-pricing it as an open-jaw. AA has flights EWR-MAN which are just under $500/direction, and JAL has NRT-EWR for about $600/direction, which matches the price you've mentioned.

The problem is that the fare rules for these state that they are for round-trip, circle, or open-jaw trips only.

Clearly your flights aren't round-trip. They also aren't circle (you'd need an MAN-NRT leg for that). They are 'open-jaw' in a fundamental sense, but airlines generally define open-jaw as the missing segment (MAN-NRT) being shorter than both of the flown segments.

In your case, the open jaw is shorter than NRT-EWR, but it's not shorter than EWR-MAN, so this isn't a valid open-jaw route.

This bumps you up to having to book one-way fares, which are generally significantly more expensive. eg, the cheapest one-way AA fare EWR-MAN on that date is $1281 - even higher than the return fare above!

ITA is normally good with things like this, but it's not always perfect. I suspect you've hit one of those occasions where it gets it wrong...

tripledip

Thanks for the help and tips.