<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by AC*SE:
You are making two important assumptions here:
1) Lower fares are distributed evenly across the L,V,Q and H.
2) All passengers are travelling point to point.
When a passenger buys a through fare, only a portion of that ticket revenue is attributable to each of the sectors flown. </font>
To emphasise AC*SE's point, with the release of a special down here this week by AC, I can currently get to any of the AC points served in Europe, from SYD, a little cheaper or about the same as I can currently get to Vancouver. An itinerary (for other than LHR or FRA) at that price would include a trans-con YVR-YYZ/YUL connector flight.
[If you're comparing, then if I travel in October, I could get a SYD-EU return on AC for about $1600AUD return plus taxes. That's not a lot of money to spread over 2 trans-pac segments, 2 trans-atlantics and possibly 1 or 2 domestic trans-con connectors.]