WAS-JNB keeps showing dud fares?
Jul 16, 2019, 12:09 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: SMF
Posts: 45
WAS-JNB keeps showing dud fares?
I've been looking at flights from Washington, DC to Johannesburg, South Africa for the last few weeks, with travel dates around 12/25 - 1/9. I'm using multiple OTAs like Kayak, Skyscanner, etc. that keep showing cheap fares (with each OTA showing different airlines/fares) except when you click through to the carrier's website those flights are available but none of them are actually at the price listed on the OTA website. What's going on here? Usually, don't have a problem like this....
Jul 19, 2019, 9:27 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: SMF
Posts: 45
Kayak showed a fare for air France that took me direct to their website. The times was available but the cheap fare was not as listed. Skyscanner showed me British and same thing happened, took me directly to BA website but the cheapest fare on Skyscanner wasnt availble as a flight time, and all other fares were way more expensive.
Jul 20, 2019, 1:28 pm
#4
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: NYC/PHX
Programs: IATA, Sabre, AvgeekAgent
Posts: 1,958
Kayak showed a fare for air France that took me direct to their website. The times was available but the cheap fare was not as listed. Skyscanner showed me British and same thing happened, took me directly to BA website but the cheapest fare on Skyscanner wasnt availble as a flight time, and all other fares were way more expensive.
Jul 22, 2019, 4:22 am
#5
Join Date: Jul 2007
Programs: BAEC OW Gold/Emerald
Posts: 538
Kayak showed a fare for air France that took me direct to their website. The times was available but the cheap fare was not as listed. Skyscanner showed me British and same thing happened, took me directly to BA website but the cheapest fare on Skyscanner wasnt availble as a flight time, and all other fares were way more expensive.
Last edited by IntVic; Jul 22, 2019 at 4:28 am
Jul 22, 2019, 11:58 am
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: SMF
Posts: 45
I just checked aa and the cheapest was $1468. I just ended up going to ba and getting it for $1090, which is still more than your 813 gbp. Probably shouldve paid the $10 to hold the fare for 3 days? but dont think there'll be any cheaper flights in the next 2-3 days anyhow...
Jul 23, 2019, 5:57 pm
#7
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,399
If you can see the fare code or at least the booking class for the fares you find in a search, you can then check fare class availability on EF to see whether the fare you want is sold out on one or more of the flights. If everything looks OK, you could dig further by looking at the detailed fare rules to see if there's something that makes you ineligible for the fare.