Intrigued by the new Orbitz site, I decided to compare the fares from Orbitz versus the Northwest web site. Since NW is supposedly a partner in this new site, I expected the lowest fares to come up the same. For example:

I priced a flight from DTW to SFO leaving on 9/25 and returning on 10/5 for two people.

Orbitz Price: $364 per person
NW Price: $450 per person

Both of these fares were for Northwest and both offered the exact same flight numbers. If anything, I would have expected the NW sites fares to be cheaper instead of more expensive.

Has anyone else noticed this about the other airline sites? If I called NW with the fares from Orbitz, would they match the price quoted? It seems odd that I could get a cheaper NW flight from a site other than NW. Just curious as to what the difference is other than Orbitz is a consortium of airlines.