Originally Posted by
WineCountryUA
Some costs are fixed government fees, did you do the proration on just the base airfare?
Oh I forgot about that part. Makes total sense.
Originally Posted by
findark
This is frequently a confusing black box, so I'm kind of surprised to have derived exactly the same result as United, but hey maybe it makes sense sometimes
.
One standard method is to use the ratio of fares, instead of pro rata by distance. In this case, the relevant fare would be Y on JAC-DEN and Y on DEN-PHL, and taxes and fees are separate.
The original ticket was $338.25, which would be fared as $291.21 of base fare plus $21.85 of US (a total of $313.06 of ad valorem components), plus fixed fees: 10.60ZP 5.60AY 9.00XF. ZP and XF are segment based and AY is fixed.
The fare Y (not cheapest "full Y" but the actual basis Y) on JAC-DEN is $3,022 and it's $5,911 on DEN-PHL.
So the cost apportioned and allocable to DEN-PHL is $313.06 x (5911/(5911 + 3022)) + $5.30 + $4.50 =
$216.953 (guessing UA always rounds up).
Amazing math skills! Thanks.
Originally Posted by
periperi
I would have asked for it all back. They didn't get you where you were going and presented an unacceptable routing after the diversion. Did you see if there was anything on AA they could put you on (and then ask them to)?
The only evening nonstop options were Southwest (which I bought) and a redeye on Frontier. I didn't see United rebooking me on either of those. American had a nonstop the next day but that wouldn't have helped me much.
Originally Posted by
periperi
I agree that as a general matter, that would be an issue. That's why I think it's highly relevant whether OP asked for and was rejected for an OA routing that would have avoided the overnight.
Did not ask because: 1. UA doesn't interline with Southwest or Frontier, 2. the diversion was weather related, and 3. United closed all their airport help centers (the most boneheaded move they've made in recent years through otherwise great improvement.) United did bear some responsibility, however, as it was their choice to load minimum fuel on the first flight (pilot did not sound happy about that) and it took a very long time to get fuel in COS due to ground staff being overwhelmed. I did score a $20 meal voucher for my troubles.
Side note: This was my first time on Southwest after two million miles with DL and UA. I will say the plane was new, got a nice seat with decent legroom, the staff were pleasant, wi-fi and drinks were free. (drinks were supposed to be $9 but apparently they "forget" to charge often.) Most importantly, they ran on time. This mishap completely changed my perception of Southwest.