Originally Posted by
fereke
It is the married segment logic. Swiss does not want to sell A seats on gru-zrh-mxp, but is willing to do so on gru-zrh alone. Most likely as gru-mxp is cheaper than gru-zrh.
By adding the stopover, you benefit from both A availability and the cheap fare, at a cost of "wasted time" in Zurich.
sorry, but no.
The fare, as is shown on the OP'S screenshot, is still a GRU-MXP in both cases. Just adding a few hours transit time within 24 hours of arrival is not creating a stopover.
The reason why the connection to LX1628 around noon is more expensive than the connection to LX 1622 in the late afternoon is just that the noon flight is in higher demand than the evening flight. Just try to book ZRH - MXP isolated and you'll see a big price difference between noon and evening. So it's more like David (LX1628] who beats Goliath (LX93) and triggers the F instead of the A on the longhaul.