Pricing Question
 

I am looking at the pricing for a particular roundtrip flight and the Northwest price is $400. The Continental price is $264. The Continental flights are operatated by Northwest - they are the exact same flights! Can someone explain why there is a substantial price difference between the two? When I book the flights on Continental, do I use my Northwest frequent flyer number?

Don't know why they price things like they do but it seems to happen alot. As for frequent flyer number, you will be able to put your NW number in when you make your reservation on CO website.

In short, I have been told that the answer is anti-trust concerns. If they both had the same price, it could be seen as "price-fixing."

I agree that it does seem foolish that you can purchase the same "product" from two different companies and one of them can cost $250 while the other is $1,200.

So if you are a WorldPerks member booking this on CO's website... you then don't get the online booking bonus and other bonuses, right?

Or is there a way to book the CO flights through NW site, getting these bonuses?

I have the same problem except I book on nwa.com and use CO metal. I'm CO Plat. Its ridiculous.

correct, no bonus... no way to get the bonus.

ditto... me too http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif commented on that in another thread...

What kind of itineraries are you booking? I'd be interested in seeing why the pricing is so different!

I believe they are referring to pricing the same domestic flights under CO and NW codes. Since the fares in each market are different for each airline, there will be a price difference depending whose inventory and fares you buy from and price. It is nothing unusual.

The prices I posted were based on searches I did on Northwest’s and Expedia’s web sites. The low price ($264) came up on Expedia when I searched all airlines. On Monday I tried the Northwest web site again and came up with comparable prices. It appears that some sort of fare sale started on Monday.

This is not that uncommon and is sometimes a back door way into finding a decent fare. It is my understanding that most code-share arrangements work on the basis that the other airline buys a certain number of seats on the other and markets them as its own. If there is a glut of unsold tickets they'll discount some of them from time to time to move em or lose em!

I asked a buddy of mine that worked for NWA. The answer is really kinda simple. CO pays a fixed amount per seat for each flight it can sell. He never figured out how much but it is like this. CO pays NWA $150 per seat for the flight you looking at. So in the end CO makes $104 of you and still has there seats open. And NWA is like If they wanna fly us They'll pay for it. Hope that summed it up good enough.