Originally Posted by
mgcsinc
I think you're using "married segments" a little outside its normal context. It's usually used to describe the situation where the airline provides different availability numbers than the segment-by-segment numbers. But maybe that's what you were saying? Otherwise, I think that you're just talking about "legal transfers" within a fare rather than needing to talk about "married segments."
In any case, United.com does it's best to avoid showing you two-stop itins, even when they're cheaper.
The classic example was when inventory was either:
1. unavailable when the married segments AAA-BBB-CCC were pulled up together but could be found as AAA-BBB and BBB-CCC seperately, reserved seperately on the same PNR and then booked as a through fare AAA-BBB-CCC; or
2. a particular UA flight (such as MUC-SJJ which is operated by LH) for which they do not have local traffic rights could only be purchased as married to another UA flight, e.g. EWR-MUC-SJJ.
Recently, airlines have adopted what we might call a policy that even when the inventory is available AAA-BBB and BBB-CCC the trip will not price as a through AAA-CCC fare when the inventory is not available as married AAA-BBB-CCC. I call this a forced marriage.