JJeffrey

What is already a crystal ball type question is made even more impossible by the fact that you didn't include any details like the dates of travel .

That said, I can all but guarantee that the price will either go up, go down, or stay the same.

ijgordon

+1

And I can close to guarantee that whatever the codeshare price does, the prime QF flight will probably do the opposite...

WiscAZ

HAHA yeah, re-reading my post it was pretty vague so not sure how I could expect a good response. When I checked yesterday morning a round trip LAX-MEL in J in early August on an AA code share with Qantas was around $6,580 and then last night it was up to around $7,700. I checked just now and it was back down to $6,580 so not sure what the deal was.

xliioper

They are not really changing fares, the system is just zeroing out I bucket availability on whatever flight you are looking at which forces you into a pricier D fare. The underlying fare filings and fare pricing itself is not changing. This is an automated process as the system evaluates demand on certain flights and adjusts bucket availability. It's not going to be a predictable process as demand is not easily predictable. It's all about the rev management software trying to maximize yield.

You can see bucket availability using ExpertFlyer or BCD Travel's free flight availability tool. You can also use ITA Matrix to see the fare filings and fare rules to get an idea of what the cheapest options are and their requirements. The cheapest AA coded roundtrip fare is an IZX5TN0 fare for $5784 which requires Mon-Thu travel, a 10-day minimum stay and 50 day advance purchase. Next up, is an IZX8SN0 roundtrip fare with Mon-Thu travel required, but only 7-day min stay and 28 day advance requirement. This is $6084 roundtrip. There's also an IZW8SN0 fare which is good for Fri-Sun travel and has 7-day min-stay requirement ($7084 roundtrip). The combination of an IZX8SN0 and IZW8SN0 fare produces a $6584 price which means you are combining a Mon-Thu departure/return with a Fri-Sun departure/return. For the dates you are looking at, the $6584 price is going to be the cheapest you are going to find and will be there as long as I bucket availability is there and you meet the advance purchase requirements (28 days). You could potentially get the price down to $5784 by extending your stay a day or two to meet the Mon-Thu travel and 10-day min stay requirement of IZX5TN0 fares.

Jacketwatch

Screwy price fluctuations. UAL was $4954.00 today for the exact same flights, both NS's leafing their respective airports around noon. Thats about $300.00 less that what I paid.

AA was about $200.00 less or about $4760.00 ish but both had connections and leaving ORD was either 0500 or 0700. All in all I'm happy with what I got.

thunderlounge

Glad it worked out for ya. I’m still looking for december myself, and it’s still higher than my summer ticket.

taxatty56

Glad you're happy--you can drive yourself insane following ANY travel prices after you've booked with all the would-a/should-a/could-a's (although at least with cruises, you can sometimes get a price reduction). Just enjoy your trip!

Jacketwatch

Thank you. We have a nice plan made I think!