Originally Posted by
bitterproffit
I just saw the opposite:
I am pricing BNA - MAD in J in September 7, return October 4:
UA: Some at $3300, most at $3800, a couple at $5,500
DL: Almost all at $5,700
AA: every combo on the app shows $11,700 - $11,900 but one that is $5,500.
The same AA/BA combo of flights on the BA website price at $4400.
I just checked the website instead of the app and AA pricing are all $11,900.
How can they all be so different?
Fare bucket inventory variability. It looks like you are looking at First Class fares on AA instead of Business Class. All 3 majors have matching biz fares (exact same $775 base fares) for roughly $3360 roundtrip all-in (DL in Z class, AA in I class, and UA in P class). The October 4th return has bucket inventory in cheapest biz class on all 3 carriers, but you need to adjust outbound by a day or two to find flights with availability in cheapest buckets on other 2 carriers. This highlights the issue when cherry picking dates and not doing a deeper dive on fare filings and bucket inventory availability. Carriers often have matching fare filings, but bucket inventory may not be open on any given day and you may need to tweak departure/return dates in order to find flights with fare bucket inventory available in corresponding cheapest fare buckets. This is where tools like Google Flights/ITA Matrix (in flexible dates mode) come in handy.
