Can't correctly price trip with KE TPAC segment
 

Trying to book an open jaw, SFO-PVG/SHE-SFO. I'd like to fly DL outbound and KE inbound.
DL.com offers this itinerary with a reasonable price ($800 or so): SFO-LAX-PVG/SHE-ICN-SEA-SFO, where ICN-SEA is DL metal.
I'd like the ICN-SFO KE nonstop instead, but I simply can't get either DL.com, google flights or any OTA to price it no matter what I try.

When I force this itinerary on itasoftware, it shows a price of $5404.

Is there any hope to call DL to get this priced correctly, or does this indicate that there simply isn't a fare available for this itinerary?
Since DL and KE has JV, one would assume that DL should happily put me on ICN-SFO with a similar price to ICN-SEA-SFO.

It might be fare class availability, possibly in combination with rules regarding combinations of fares and open jaws. To verify, you'd need to look carefully at the complete fare rules. The $5404 fare you're seeing must be FULL Y or something close.

Is the ICN-SFO operated by KE available as a DL codeshare? How about SHE-ICN-SFO?

What happens if you try the experiment of doing a dummy booking for something like SFO-ICN-SHE RT first using your travel dates and then maybe changing each date a bit in each direction to explore fare class availability?

I had this problem in October when I went to BKK and SIN -- for some reason SIN - ICN was pricing forcing the whole ticket into Y when the other flights were in the usual corporate H fare we book into.

I had to book a separate SIN - BKK flight on KE flight numbers and ticket stock (ended up being a B fare) and then booked RDU - BKK // ICN - RDU on DL stock and flight numbers but allowed me to price it in line with corporate policies.

I posted this at the time (since moved to a new thread) but DL was weirdly pricing out more cheaply and trying to push me via NRT with an SQ segment (this was after SIN - NRT ended).

Try booking SHE - ICN as a standalone and see how it prices

There's nothing wrong with the pricing. TPAC sector must be DL operated for the cheap fares.

SHE-SFO FARE CODE XLG03NMM

FLIGHT APPLICATION

...AND THE FARE COMPONENT MUST INCLUDE TRAVEL VIA TRANSPACIFIC SECTORS ON ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING ANY DL FLIGHT OPERATED BY DL.

Yeah ICN-SFO is available as DL codeshare. SHE-ICN is not. It seems no flight between China and ICN is DL coded. DL.com would happily sell me ICN-SFO nonstop, but not in combination with a China-ICN flight.
It's the same with RT. It seems SFO-China on DL + China-ICN-SFO on KE is simply not priceable, whether ICN-SFO is KE coded or DL coded.

Booking SHE-ICN as a separate ticket works, but isn't ideal since the price is higher - around $1200 which is similar as simply booking two one-ways.

Ah, this is why. Nice find! But does it make sense for DL to exclude KE operated flights given the JV?

Have you called calling DL to see whether they can put the flights you want together on a single ticket/PNR, using the DL codeshare for the ICN-SFO nonstop?

KE has N fares from $805 roundtrip (fare basis NLX43MNK), but you can't combine these KE fares in one direction with DL fares in the other due to fare combination restrictions. You must go with the KE fares in both directions to get the desired routing on the return. KE N fares earn 100% MQM's and you'll earn very similar miles/MQD's to an $800 DL fare.


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...33c87b467f.png

https://www.flightglobal.com/delta-a...124611.article

probably because DL has partnership with China Eastern

same thing for UA+ANA JV, their transpacific JV doesnt include china

Not yet, it doesn't look promising based on the fare rule above, but I'll try it once and report back. HUCA is probably not useful in this case.

Oh, does "JV doesn't include china" mean "DL and KE don't share revenue and cost on the TPAC segment of a trip, if that trip is between US and China"? I didn't know that.

difficult question to answer without knowing the specifics of the JV (confidential/proprietary)

but probably the case, given DL explicitly forces you to fly their metal trans-pacific when going to china

I had a similar issue previously on a J ticket with CI segments. I could price it at $7300~ but during checkout it failed every time. I called, read the segments, fare classes I see, and they forced it through and were able to get the pricing aligned. I would suggest HUCA till you find an agent willing to take extra time with you. If you are willing to spend this much on a ticket, I have found Delta more than willing to take the time to get the pricing fixed.

Called DL and spoke with a rep. No luck. I told the rep the specific flights I want, but she was unable to construct and price this itinerary. She talked to her supervisor, the supervisor was also unable, and advised me to call KE to book :rolleyes:

OP is looking at an $800 coach ticket, not a biz one. I doubt they are going to bend any rules for that. It would be helpful to know why OP seems insistent on booking DL marketed tickets when the KE marketed tickets will earn virtually the same amount and provide the one-stop routing desired on the return for an $800 price tag. The fare rules on the DL marketed tickets are quite clear -- only DL metal over the pacific (DL marketed is not sufficient).

My travel date is 5/20 - 6/12 (+/- a few days), and an all-KE itinerary costs more than $1400, probably because it is peak season for KE.

Well if OP has status (on phone so can't see), booking KE marketed means no C+ (if on a plane with C+) until DoD which is a big loss for a long flight

OP wants ICN-SFO which is KE operated and does not have C+. There's no value to booking a DL marketed flight on that if C+ is desired. If OP truly wanted C+ both ways over the pacific, it would make more sense to just book the DL fares and take the DL metal in both directions over the pacific and put up with the extra domestic leg on DL on return. There are reasonable DL coach fares which are metal neutral over the pacific to/from a number Asia markets. Just not to/from China (possibly due to the fact that the ATI/JV with KE does not cover China). Now that we know OP desired dates, as OP surmised the cheapest KE coach fares (NLX43MNK fare basis) are seasonally restricted (to departures through April 29th).

Category 2: Day/Time restrictions
PERMITTED SUN THROUGH THU ON EACH TRANSPACIFIC SECTOR.

Category 3: Seasonal restrictions
PERMITTED 01SEP THROUGH 09DEC OR 25DEC THROUGH 14JAN OR 30JAN THROUGH 29APR ON THE OUTBOUND TRANSPACIFIC SECTOR