Originally Posted by
sbm12
There are absolutely scenarios where connecting itineraries have "low" pricing. Not always, but it does happen. There are others where a connection has a mid-level price and yet others where a
connection prices end-on-end because that's cheaper than the through pricing. But there are also plenty of non-stop flights which do not price at the lowest tier. The US-Oz data in the system right now reflects that scenario.
As for identifying when things change, well, I haven't made it that far insomuch as I don't even have a full first set of data yet. But all of the entries are time-stamped so it would not be too hard to compare old versus new if I collect another round of data in the future. The collection process is not trivial so that won't happen all the time, but I should be able to refresh the data from time to time.
I know that connections can still price as low, as mixed, or even additively (for the same tier, when this should not be the case but married segment logic is probably playing a role here), but I was commenting that in your USA to France example, the lowest award prices shown in miles also had the lowest fees ($5.60), which looked like TSA and other government imposed taxes and fees for a single segment. It's suggestive to me that the way to get relatively low award tickets is to look for nonstops, including looking for destinations with nonstop service from your home airport.