Originally Posted by
lincolnjkc
That's what tripped me up -- while the trip I eventually book will need to be refundable this was a search based on "lowest available" (in part because UA.com can't seem to remember/apply my fare type search preferences) -- virtually every bucked on IAH-GRU is not only available but wide open (9) so it wasn't clicking why that segment would book in Y... it seems, though that none of the fares other than Y are combinable with the C fare thus yielding this result.
Also interesting that it was the
#1 result but I've long given up trying to figure out what, if any, logic is applied to the default sort on .com
I think it in UA.com’s wording is ‘best match’, but I’ve long given up on trying to figure out what order that is, or why it gives certain options but leaves out others (ie, will give an A-B-C option with a 36 minute connection, but not the the same A-B option connecting to the B-C flight with a 1:30 layover instead). It seems to be mostly in order of departure time, but not seemingly always, and doesn’t seem to be always best fares, because I’ve seen those all over the place in the order, too. I’ve also seen tags such as ‘best option’ (or something similar), but not sure how those are chosen either, as I’ve often seen the same A-B-C connection, with a very close layover/total trip time, but different times of day, and can’t figure out why the midday option (for example) gets that ‘best option’ over the early morning or early evening options which price the same.