davistev - a lot of the hidden cost of tickets these days are tied up with taxes and charges .. that kinda ticket might not have taxes added in the advertised price?

If they fly UA to HK out of Toronto, they have to go via ORD as the most direct route.

Not sure if USA charges tax of transits like that, but lately those "hidden" taxes are really annoying me. I am flying to Germany in Nov on United from Syd, via USA. There is no stopover in USA either way.

The TAXES come pretty close to 10% of what the entire 30,000 mile round trip ticket "advertised price" costs.

When Canada adds their piece of the action it gets high. I flew from here at Xmas to Buenos Aires VIA Calgary (and Banff) en route to Miami for that flight. The taxes paid on the ticket to go AUST-USA-CAN-USA-ARGENTINA-USA-AUST were $100s.