Explanation for the $1300 price difference
 

I tried to book a direct flight from YYC to NRT. AC website showed this price.https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f723d6ff5a.png

When I tried LAX-NRT for the same dates, AC showed the same flights with a stopover in YYC for this price. The YYC-NRT segment flight numbers are the same.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...3fa3d450f0.png

Can anyone help me out with an explanation for this?

Thanks

Demand and supply. Not many Angelenos want a flight to Tokyo that stops in a place they’ve never heard of.

I am seeing the same difference LAX-yvr-nrt! crazy

I just saw the same thing with UA booking... SFO-NRT is 1800!!! LAX-SFO-NRT is 775!!!! same dates!

Gotta fill those AC longhauls somehow!
​​​​​​Check out the current AC <$400 fares from HKG to SFO.

glitch? sixth freedom traffic..who knows.

When you're booking flights, the only thing that matters is origin and destination.

All this says to me is that there's a sale on LAX-NRT. It doesn't matter whether you connect in SFO, SEA, YVR, YYC, or anywhere else. You're buying a cheap LAX-NRT fare.

I understand that. I just cannot digest that LAX-YYC-NRT is so cheap but booking the YYC-NRT segment separately triples the price..

If you only care about price and don’t care about connections or travel time here is a potential option. Book a multi city originating in LAX to Tokyo, and back to YYC. Here is an example for your dates. It’s still not cheap, but it’s about a $400 saving after paying for a one way YYC-LAX

https://goo.gl/flights/vVj6X

Lots of airlines do these sorts of things when they are trying to capture traffic that might not otherwise use the airline. For example, would an American living in LA think to look for Air Canada's price? Not likely. AC is also trying to capture US traffic away from US carriers so make the price lower.

As another example, it's well known that if you want to fly transatlantic cheaper on British Airways, you start/end in Europe, not in London. I have flown BA to Milan, Italy (connecting in London) for half the price of a YYC-LHR flight. I had lunch in Milan and then flew back to London on a separate ticket. Who knew you could save $3,000 by having lunch in Milan?

Other airlines fly non stop LAX-NRT...AC doesn't. Of course they'll have to price it temptingly. OTOH they DO fly non stop YYC-NRT... and attach a price premium for the convenience. I wouldn't be at all surprised if another airline had exactly the reverse....

Never, EVER try to equate distance or number of flights with price. They are usually only tangentially related...and often appear to be completely unrelated.

what dates! i cant find!!

i've seen the same type of difference for SEA-NRT via YVR and just YVR-NRT direct. it could save you a thousand bucks to go down to SEA for the outbound and then just drop the last leg on the return but it would eat up the better part of a day.

There's a significant population of the Canadian travelling public, who for reasons of visa issues, or simply paranoia of US authorities, won't travel to overseas countries through the United States. AC knows this and prices their options ex-Canada accordingly. The election of the anti-immigration President was basically music to AC's ears as it accelerated their business of not only transporting (perhaps justifyingly) paranoid Canadians, but also those from South and Central America to Asia.

Leftovers of course are dumped in the US. So if you don't mind doing a quick one-way, enjoying a US city for a day, etc., and then flying back, it can be a bargain.

I just saw this price posted as a deal in the mileage run deal thread... Seems like spending half a day is worth the price difference....