Originally Posted by
ChocolateFactory
I don’t really think that argument holds: It’s a known limitation that not all possible combinations can be searched/returned. We can still search for other complex routings without any issues.
I rather suspect this has something to do with how taxes are calculated etc. - it’s still very sad that this has been discontinued, though. Google Flights can still do it though, albeit the number of airports is limited. Might not be a coincidence.
Fares are often filed on a per-country basis, with a small number of focus cities individually picked for published faring and add-ons used to generate additional fares from other points within one country. The latter type of fare is called a "constructed fare". ATPCO distributes the constructed tariff separately to published fares to reduce the multiplicity of fares.
e.g., AA may publish a single tariff from Australia that comprises largely SYD-xxx fares but also has a set of "add on" rules for generating fares from other points besides SYD.
Looking at PER-NYC, one finds there is no such fare. Instead there is a constructed fare as follows:
Code:
INTERNATIONAL CONSTRUCTION
** ADDONS FOR INFORMATION ONLY **
FARE--OW
PUBLISHED AMOUNT CONVERTED AMOUNT
ADDON CITIES F/B CUR VIA NUC
ADDON ORG PER-SYD G***** AUD 50.00 AUD 50.00
ATP ZONE 801 ADD-ON TARIFF PUSA/996
PUBLISHED SYD-NYC SLX9ERN0 AUD 1153.00 AUD 1153.00
ONE WAY AMOUNTS MAY BE DOUBLED FOR ROUND TRIP
AUD CONVERTED TO USD USING BSR 1 AUD - 0.68164949 USD
.
Add ons need not cost an extra. Occasionally, one finds negative add on amounts. Here I find a BA NCL-SAO constructed fare is a discount from the LON-SAO published fare.
Code:
INTERNATIONAL CONSTRUCTION
** ADDONS FOR INFORMATION ONLY **
FARE--RT
PUBLISHED AMOUNT CONVERTED AMOUNT
ADDON CITIES F/B CUR VIA NUC
ADDON ORG NCL-LON W***** GBP -60.00 GBP -60.00
ATP ZONE 107 ADD-ON TARIFF AARBSAT/961
PUBLISHED LON-SAO ONNT67B6 GBP 238.00 GBP 238.00
GBP CONVERTED TO USD USING BSR 1 GBP - 1.22953721 USD
.
Note, the construction has nothing to do with the route. There is not requirement or expectation that travel be via the construction point. (Although, often it will be, but that needs to be stipulated elsewhere in the rules.)
I am sure there are significant optimization opportunities around computing pricing when a large set of them are expected to be constructed fares with a common base fare.
The taxes argument does not strike me as persuasive because taxes in general vary within one country just as much as between countries, and taxes are a function of route, timings, and other factors, not merely country of origin.