As you have figured out, if you snooze ya loose! Not pulling the trigger when the price is right is a mistake one only makes one time, or twice at the most.
AUS to SNA is most likely a fare that another carrier is discounting so UA is matching. Yes, you can skip the LAST segment and still receive credit for your SNA-IAH flight. A lot of people fail to make it to their connecting flights, and sometimes it not their own fault, as happened to me yesterday on a delayed arrival. Some people will tell you that if you do the dropping of the last segment too often you'll get busted, however as screwed up as this airline is now, they don't have the foggiest clue who is on which aircraft, and where they are going or coming from.

Remember the main objective for airlines is to make sure that EVERYONE on the plane pays a different fare!

Better luck next time

Thanks for the input - I haven't ever ran into this before (or really cared about the price until now). Wanted to get some veteran experience. That is so funny how they would rather match competition and likely take a loss on pax from AUS to SNA - I guess that is why they increased fare the IAH to SNA flight (to offset the loss of AUS to SNA).

In addition to being against the rules, another risk of hidden city ticketing as you describe is IRROPS. If SNA-IAH gets delayed, they may rebook you SNA-SFO-AUS or SNA-DEN-AUS. Then what are you gonna do?

The new UA is less "with it" in terms of IRROPS as they used to be, but it's still a risk nonetheless.

I think we should focus on emphasizing that throwaway ticketing is a bad bad idea. I don't disagree with IRROPs issues. But the main point is the ticketing.

Thanks again for the different viewpoints. I will eat the cost and book earlier next time :)

Makes sense on the rerouting fiasco if IRROPS occurs.

It's not crazy at all; airline tickets are not sold on a cost plus basis so it's completely irrelevant that you'll be on the same IAH-SNA flight. No one competes nonstop IAH-SNA, while there are many onestop AUS-SNA options, so UA is offering a unique service in the IAH-SNA market that commands a higher price.

The way they enforce these fare differentials is by not publishing the lower fare classes for the IAHSNA city pair. So V/W/S/T/L/K/G bucket can be available on the IAH-SNA flight, there's no published fare less than QE143KN for the IAHSNA city pair so you can't book into them. OTOH for the AUSSNA city pair there's a GA7KN fare that will get you into the G bucket.

i've only done it once...never plan on doing it again.

Yeah but I have miles only in united. Although I am using miles for this trip for 2 adults, we are traveling with our 12 month old. So based on this expensive fare, they calculate the tax for my 12 month old. Since it is $5000 for adult, I have to pay $500 as tax just for a sleeping baby.

Our trip is as follows: SFO-SYD (stopover)-BLR (stay for 15 days)-FRA-SFO.
SFO-SYD on 12/6
SYD-BLR on 12/13
BLR-FRA-SFO on 12/30
Overall the adult charges comes to $11000 & I have to pay $1000 for my baby. It is too expensive for a little baby without scoring miles.

United Price Gouging?
 

I was just trying to book tickets for my Grandma and myself to go to London. She will be in Boston and I will be in Washington DC. What I found is that it cost $820 for her to fly from Boston to DC and then to London and the reverse for the return trip. For me, it was originally $1200 (went down to $1000 today) to catch the same flight from DC to London and the same flight back.

http://ofprclan.com/forum/index.php?...tach=263;image

http://ofprclan.com/forum/index.php?...tach=265;image

While I don't particulary like a lot of the fares I've seen from UA recently, you can't use this one incident and deduce that UA price gouges. There are a number of factors that play into fare calculations. Also connections can price out to be cheaper than the nonstop.

Price Gouging (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_gouging)?

The prices may be higher than you'd like, but I wouldn't think that fits the definition of Price Gouging (there is no emergency, UA does not have a monopoly on that route, and air travel is not essential to survival).

I'd say that Price Gouging is nearly impossible given the number of carriers that fly between BOS & LON (both direct and with a connection). If you don't like the price fly on another airline (there are at least 7 non-stop flights daily between BOS & LHR and another 7 between IAD & LHR). It likely that there is a high demand for the day, time, and route you want to fly. Others are willing to pay as much or more than you are, therefore the price continues to rise until people stop buying tickets.

If your point is that you don't like that it costs less for your grandmother to fly BOS-IAD-LHR than it costs for you to fly IAD-LHR you're experiencing the core of airfare pricing. It's not based solely on the cost to operate the flights you want to take; it's also (and likely mostly) based on the demand for a particular route. Given that there are several non-stop flights BOS-LHR (none operated by UA) UA needs to give people a reason to take a longer journey in order to win their business. A lower price is that reason. Since you're flying non-stop IAD-LHR they can command a higher fare for the same flight since the market is presumably willing to pay more for that non-stop IAD-LHR flight. You might find the reverse is true if you went up to BOS on AA or BA (you paying less than your grandma).

I was stunned when I was offered EWR>LIS>FAO for 1800$ in virtually empty planes in June when I have previously never paid more than 1200$.

IAD-DXB Z/D - a gazillion dollars. PHL - IAD - DXB Z/D: low enough to get past travel people. Maybe not price gouging, but certainly annoying.

Airline tickets are not sold on a cost plus basis.

Airline tickets are not sold on a cost plus basis.

Airline tickets are not sold on a cost plus basis.

There are a lot of one-stop options to get from BOS to LHR; UA has to compete with multiple airlines with one of the worst (longest travel time) routings.
There are fewer IAD to LHR options, and UA is competitive time-wise on them. Thus UA can get a premium here. Also UA has considerable DC-area loyalty (hub and Buy American) which allows them to get better rates.