Originally Posted by
WrightHI
Beyond that, never expect airline pricing to make sense based on miles flown or anything like that. Airlines have sophisticated systems for trying to extract every possible dollar out of every possible passenger.
This.
It is why skiplagging is a concept. Have often seen 2 leg flights cheaper than a direct, where the direct is included as the 1st/2nd leg in that cheaper fare.
One example, at least historically, is MKE-ORD-Final destination is often cheaper than ORD-Final destination. As a rough approximation, airline thinks someone originating in Chicago is willing to pay more than someone originating in Milwaukee.