Originally Posted by
zspitzer
Apologies if this isn't the right place to post this
Trying to get my girlfriend and I NYC to TLV around August in J to visit family. Somewhat flexible on dates, best for her work schedule would be departing on a Friday and back Saturday or Sunday of the following week.
As an example, building a theoretical itinerary 8/17 to 8/21, I can select UA90 (departing 8/17) with an advertised "$4,211 round trip" (Z fare class), but the return in J bumps the round trip cost up to $6,555 (would be C class return). I've spent a while clicking around on the calendar, and keep getting the same results, I can find Z class to TLV, but not returning to NYC. All showing J9 in expert mode incidentally, so seems like they have the seats to sell.
8/21 is a Tuesday -- is that a typo since you said Sat/Sun return?
If I search for 8/17 - 8/21 I can get $4,300 r/t no problem (Z there, P back).
If I search 8/17 - 8/25 I see your $4,211 price. Do you have your search settings set to allow connections? The $4,211 price is the nonstop EWR-TLV outbound with the return TLV-(LX)-ZRH-(UA)-EWR. It shows you lowest r/t price based on ALL returns on that date, not just returns that fit your search criteria i.e. nonstops only or whatever.
Looking at the fare rules (you can read them by clicking "View fare rules and restrictions"), the $4,211 price requires 21-day advanced purchase and a Saturday night stay. The unavailability of that price for the nonstop return is an inventory issue, not a fare rule issue (one nonstop is J9 C9 D0 Z0 P0, the other is J9C9 D9 Z0 P0).