Is there a flight search engine that will let me do a search of the form: Airport-to-any-airport but connecting through a specific airport? Often times A-B one way tickets are more expensive than A-B-C. In this case throwing away B-C segment is the better priced option. Of course, not making a habit of it so no worries getting caught. Does ITA routing language etc. cover this?

My specific example is a flight from CDG-FAI on the 23-Nov. One way ticket is $2100. Booking a return doesn't help much.

OTOH my colleague travelling BOM-FAI can get away with paying only $1000 and the irony is that the flight connects through CDG! Sigh. (I know I can't book this; my ticket would be cancelled as a no show from BOM)

Wondering if there are any (cheaper) routings that originate at CDG but would connect via FAI to any airport (I'd dump the last segment). Is FAI much of a transit airport at all?

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I don't know if you can find cheap award seats on the day before Thanksgiving, but if you can, it might be cost effective to buy the miles for an award. Since you can now check award-seat availability for travel on both AA and AS on aa.com, I would see if you can find a 20,000-mile partner award from CDG to FAI on aa.com. You can hold an award for five days if necessary to get the miles into your AAdvantage account.

I don't think Thanksgiving's the issue. Same prices for most other dates too. I'd never seen a $2000 one-way non-flex coach fare before! Is there something special about this route?

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Thanksgiving could certainly be an issue for availability of cheap award seats. If you can find a partner award on aa.com, you can probably buy the 20,000 miles for less than $800. The only question would be how quickly the miles post.

Only to far-gone outposts like Nome, Barrow and Kotzebue. OME, BRW and OTZ. AS is the only carrier available. As it's a virtual monopoly routing I doubt your ticket cost will go down much booked through to OME instead of FAI.

Another (a bit risky) way is for me to book two separate tickets: CDG-SEA ($800) and then SEA-FAI ($450).

Yield management systems are indeed crazy. I can't imagine why they'd put a $1000 premium on booking the direct CDG-FAI itenary.

The $700 CD-SEA ticket is indeed a bit bizarre:

CDG-FRA on Lufthansa
FRA-LAS on Condor
LAS-SEA on Alaska

Can you originate somewhere other than CDG? Perhaps BRU, GVA or ZRH? They may have lower fares.

BRU is indeed a bit better but the others are no use.

BRU-FAI $1800

GVA-FAI $3000

ZRH-FAI $2438

And this after I used the flex-dates option (+- 3 days)

Something is indeed weird about this route. I've never seen Coach fares that expensive.

And what are round-trips pricing for the route?

All around $1700-$1800.

Have you ever flown to FAI? It's in the middle of nowhere, AS is the virtual monopoly carrier, and fares are high. The cheapest nonstop economy fare SEA-FAI next week, a trip of 1530 miles each way, is $1136. The nonstop economy fare SEA-ORD next week, a trip of 1710 miles each way, is $803 -- and as low as $271 with a connection. There's your problem, and your answer.

This is an issue for many remote out-stations. One carrier (lucky to have one carrier at that, with heavy Federal subsidy) means that it can charge and get higher fares than the same carrier can charge for much longer routes.

This, in particular is an air route where there aren't any serious land options. Not as though you can substitute a 2-3 hour drive for an expensive segment.