Multi-city ticketing BOS-DFW-LAX
 

Hi all...I'm trying to ticket BOS-DFW-LAX on December 1, ideally flights 2548 and 2318. I see lots of options for $352 in coach and $813 in first, but the website won't ticket them, it says "the flight or fare...is no longer available".

Any thoughts about what is going on?

If you're trying to force this through a multi-city search because the fare is cheaper than just searching BOS-LAX one way, the error message you're getting is because of married segment fare rules. You could try searching on Google flights or ITA using the ITA-Matrix-Powertools plugin, but expect to see the same error message on the step after entering passenger details.

I just spent a few days last week trying to do the same thing with no luck.

The cost of your proposed itinerary is $617. You might be able to see some cheaper fares listed on the website by doing a multi-city search, but they aren't going to ticket - they're invalid.

Thanks, I was just trying to force a stop at DFW because we like to get off the plane and walk around about 1/2 way.

Is Nov. 30 or Dec 2 an option for you? There are some fares for a little less than flying Sunday Dec 1.

One other option is to book as two one ways (since that is likely the fare construction used by the multi-city search).

Unlike many carriers, AA will protect you in the case of IRROPS, even across separate tickets.

Be aware if you do this that you are deliberately circumventing AA's fare rules, which could (in theory) lead to flight cancellation or other penalties.

Will AA allow TCI of baggage? Assuming OP is checking baggage.

Yea, when searching multi-city on aa.com or Google Flights, the search engines will sometimes see lower fare buckets on the individual segments but when you combine these in the end they cannot be booked at that fare. As mentioned above if you want those specific flights then the real fare looks to be $617.

This is not true at all, there is nothing "against the rules" about positioning to a different city on a different ticket to take advantage of a cheaper fare. If BOS-DFW + DFW-LAX can be booked as 2 one-ways for cheaper than the combined BOS-DFW-LAX fare, then I would book it that way 10 times out of 10 (and IME if it was cheaper then aa.com would automatically price it that way combining the one way fares).

I don't think this is what is occurring. I think it is seeing, say, N class availability on both flights, then returning the N class fare from BOS-LAX. Only when you go to book it does it do the married segment check and see that there is not actually N class availability for BOS-DFW-LAX.

If it's truly two one-ways, have at it.

No. They will not.