shdflyer

4/14 - 4/24
CHO-IAD-NRT $1,286 K
IAD-NRT $1,744 S

Totally confused. Why do they do this? Happy I am near CHO

artvandalay

Perhaps the fact that there are two different itineraries should be considered.

Doc Savage

Happens fairly frequently....

You luck out this time.

sannmann

Meanwhile, UA may offer a lower fare for IAD-SFO-NRT.

In The 216

In very simple terms (overly so) fare structures are setup between cities with no regard to actual flights and/or connecting cities. Now, as a part of the fare structure, there are rules that list the legal connection cities and/or number of segments. In this case, the CHO-TYO K fare is $1286 and it allows stops in IAD (which would be the only allowable stop as UA doesn't fly anywhere other than IAD to/from CHO). The WAS-TYO K fare is $1,744 and probably allows stops in NYC, CHI, SFO, and/or LAX, for example.

There are many more rules and nuance to fare structuring but this is a very simplistic explanation. It's not uncommon to see this and that's why the practice of hidden city ticketing is prohibited by the airlines although it would not work in this particular situation because if you missed the CHO-IAD segment the IAD-NRT segment would be cancelled. Would work on the way back though!

PushingTin

A variation on the hidden city. I remember when CVG was a DL hub going CVG-ONT was like $800 but DAY-CVG-DAY was $600. Longer isn't always cheaper.

superEGO

I see this sort of thing all the time... As was pointed out, fares are created based on city-pair markets - there's rarely any correlation to a given segment having a certain value.

I've gone on several trips with my father over the last few years. Typically, fares to any given destination are significantly cheaper when booked from my home airport than from his. So much so, that he will book a separate ticket to fly to me, then we will travel together. Kinda the same as doing positioning flights before a mileage run.

If you are in a cheap home airport, then it's just dumb luck. If not, you have to have the extra time to make it worth adding the extra ticket. It's awkward for simple travel, but it can save some cash for sure. It's not really the same as hidden city ticketing, because there's no way to utilize the extra city in the ticket without flying from there. It's also not really nested ticketing, because you aren't returning to your start city with the nested flights as a way of avoiding fare rules (old Saturday stay discounts, etc..)

mduell

Airfare is not priced on a cost plus basis. Period.

At CHO they face a variety of one-stop competition. From IAD to NRT they face no non-stop competition except from a joint-venture partner they coordinate schedules and fares with.

At IAD they have a loyal base of UA/*A flyers. At CHO they face a lot more competition.

djohannw

Similar issue with EWR-BOG vs. IAH-BOG - EWR-IAH-BOG is actually cheaper as a one-way than the EWR-BOG non-stop (but only by a dollar or so), yet the IAH-BOG non-stop alone is about three times the price than both EWR-BOG options (non-stop or through IAH on the very same flight).

Discriminatory pricing at it's best - airfare has nothing to do with the actual traveled distance and associated cost but only depends on how much money the airline thinks it can get people to pay...

Greetings - Dirk

Tchiowa

Are you aware of any other product or service that is not based on that???

This could be an opportunity for the opposite of HCT. Find a cheap IAH/CHO and connect back and save a bit.

TennisNoob

That's awesome, you're not violating any rules since you won't skip any segments. I wish we had something in IAH to go around for that.

MBS MillionMiler

This.

I frequent MBS-ORD-HKG or MBS-ORD-PVG and back...Cheapest to HKG for my upcoming dates in Y (L class) is $973. If I go from ORD, it's over $100 more (nonstop or not). An upgradable W is about the same at $1300-ish (within $10).

The big difference is paid business! From Saginaw to HKG, via ORD, it's $5400...ORD-HKG and back is over $6900 on those same flights. Save $1500 by hopping on one of those crappy CRJ flights!

Why? Because like mduell said, DL and UA compete head-to-head with one-stop service to HKG (maybe DL is 2, I dunno for sure).

And I'm sure from bigger non-hub cities than MBS, the difference might be greater.

halls120

IME, IAD-SFO-NRT is always cheaper than IAD-NRT. Oddly enough, the return doesn't favor a stop in SFO or LAX. So every one of my NRT trips are IAD-SFO-NRT-IAD.

kevinsac

My first first-hand experience: late-1990s. LH F SFO-FRA-SFO WAS $12,000. SFO-FRA-ATH-FRA-SFO was $8,000.

Go figure.