I think this equates to the old "I found it in the last place I looked" phrase.

How many times do you check and the outbound is unavailable? Many. Chances are, you never check further.

So.....you don't really KNOW if that return is available because you don't go past step 1.

Consequently, you are more likely to not get a return because you've simply narrowed the field on the outbound as it is. (Am I making any sense??? ;) )

Often, I *DO* check the return to see if I am getting scammed. Say I am trying to go JFK-HNL-JFK, and the return is unavailable. I will then check it as a HNL-JFK-HNL flight. Invariably, the 'outbound' from HNL is unavailable as well.

I think it must have something to do with the Coriolis effect. Probably the same reason for why it is so much more expensive to call home from Europe than it is to call Europe from home. :confused:

Nice try. :)

The idea of no inventory applies to revenue tickets as well. Often times United, for example, will zero out a certain sector so the the entire RT cannot be booked.

This works really well to 'land locked' :D destinations (ie, OW in and OW out).

For example, a while back UA had a really cheap fare to SIN. But they zeroed out NRT-SIN and HKG-SIN so that no seats for that fare were bookable on those portion. One would find inventory on all other sectors.

United continued to advertise the low fare - and then bait and switch.

One of United's newest techniques is to zero out L seat fares out of the hub. Often one will find L seats available on the first flight in and the last flight out, but no inventory available on the connecting trips. It's designed so that one 'misconnects' with L inventory - so one cant 'move on' thru the system. And it prevents mileage runners from adding segments.

Thus, inventory is controlled. :o