emcampbe

Dramatic much?

First off, I'm assuming since you want to go to AKL, you saw the lower fares on NZ - Air New Zealand - and not AZ - Alitialia. Last time I looked something like this up it was in response to this thread - Another way UA devalues *A.

You can look up my response there, but most of it probably applies here. UA, for whatever reason, isn't competing with NZ prices. And while NZ may be offering lower fares, it may be in L, or another very low NZ fare bucket that doesn't earn PQM/PQS, which doesn't sound like it would help you very much either.

RNE

Let's sit down in the coffee bar, drink some absinthe and ruminate on this. In the grand scheme of things, Premier Gold is nothing special. I mean, you have to fly 60 segments, or 50,000 miles and slip $5,000 into Jeff's back pocket. No big deal. And to the extent it is a big deal to some flyers, their falling by the wayside makes Gold—indeed, all elite levels—more valuable. Yeah, your Auckland sojourn is problematic, but all is not lost. You'll find a way to make the fly and spend thresholds in 2014 and you'll be Gold through 2015. I believe in you. ^

RNE, not in your boat—thanks to the Presidential Plus card—but who knows how long that will last?

exerda

Are you getting codeshares at $3901, or the NZ flight #s? You may have success calling reservations to get the NZ flights at a much better price than the UA codeshares.

wco81

Here is what ITA search shows, only two Nonstop flights on this itinerary for the dates I'm interested in. They're on NZ metal:

1/25 SFO-AKL 19:45 - 5:45 NZ7 Economy (T)
2/1 AKL-SFO 19:30 - 10:30 NZ8 Economy (V)

Total fare: $1777


1/25 SFO-AKL 19:45 - 5:45 UA6755 Economy (Y)
2/1 AKL-SFO 19:30 - 10:30 UA6754 Economy (Y)

Total fare: $5003

exerda

But the more expensive ones are definitely UA codeshares. Normally, I'd suggest trying an award search on United.com, picking the NZ flight #s under "partner flights," then on the next-to-last screen (before purchasing), choosing "Purchase this flight for $$$" since that seems to be the only way to get United.com to offer (non-codeshared) partner flights for purchase. However, there's no saver award availability on those NZ flights, so that won't work (as they'll never show up in award search).

You can try calling United and ask them to book the NZ flights under the NZ flight #s; you should then get the NZ price, not the codeshare UA price. They can do this; I've had them do so within the past year for LH partner flights which wouldn't show up on United.bomb since they weren't codeshared. Thus, you can get a 016 ticket but with all partner flights at the partner price, not the codeshare price. You just have to make sure the res agent looks up and books the NZ flight #s, not the UA ones.

anc-ord772

Late December

LAX-DTW-ROC OW F on DL = $350

LAX-ORD-ROC OW F on UA = $941

IAHGRU

I am looking to fly IAH-GRU 6/26/14-7/14/14 and the fare is showing fare class H at $2700, up until a few weeks ago fare class B was showing at $4093.

The seat map (and a call to UA) confirms the flight is wide open.

In the past the same has occured with CO that they wouldnt release lower fare classes until closer in, although sometimes it wasnt the case.

Should I wait for this fare to come down? Other carriers are showing tix in the $1700-$1900 range.

Any advice is appreciated.

Thank you

WineCountryUA

Suspect UA is planning on the World Cup to be a major revenue producer. There will be plenty of last minute flyers will to pay those high fares especially if USA progress past the first round. If USA does then maybe lower fares.

IAHGRU

But why is only UA "planning" this? AA, DL etc are selling fares at "normal" (high prices). I even thought it was because it was the non-stop, but the fare is similarly showing originating in AUS, SAT etc.

Im not disputing what youre saying, just trying to understand and decide what I should do. Would be the first time since the non-stop IAH-GRU was innaugurated that Im considering flying other than UA(CO).

UA-NYC

UA's prices to GRU just don't seem competitive IME. I flew AA back in May from JFK on the new 77W for $7K; UA wanted $12K out of EWR. And it's not like the experience is better in any way...

GrizNation

I was going to purchase a MXP-EWR roundtrip on UA outbound in K and inbound in P. Overnight the fare went up by $300 (still K and P ) and the CSR said this fare will only last for two days (?). Based on experience, and considering the flight is in February is there any chance it will go back down to the cheaper fare, or am I better off just purchasing the ticket now?

LaserSailor

Free fare specialists will still be paying a lot for GRU in July.

Free kick specialists will be travelling for free.

dcdavido

So my wife and I want to go IAD to SFO Jan 17 to 20. Outbound is 8:00 AM and return around 11:00AM. Both are 757's (though the return is listed as a 737 but shows 757 seat map, but that's just ua.bomb).

I priced the tickets at around $500. UA lists FCC at $5,300 (I kid you not, although I'm not sure what Jeff & Co. are smoking). Going back and pricing the tickets at business shows $2000 per person FC round trip.

So I buy the coach ticket and don't care about the outbound but want FC on the return. Independently, outbound and return are $1300 person per trip. So round trip is better.

I get offered upgrade at $1000+ at purchase. I decline. Go back and get offered $900+ for an upgrade on the return. Take it because there isn't much availability, but when I do seat selection a bunch of seats open up "magically". (P fare)

Wife is 1k and I departed for the dAArk side after the merger. "m" fare tickets price out at $1300. Am i better off trading my tickets in for this and getting round trip first class? Or is this bait and switch and we'll just get wait listed? Btw we used unused system wides for the outbound upgrade.

mgcsinc

So much confusion and weirdness here. For one thing, fares on that route are not priced as rounds trips, so something weird was happening it you saw the roundtrip as cheaper.

Second, what do you mean by a bunch of seats opened up? That there were more seats on the seatmap than P fares available?

DelrayChris

Via http://matrix.itasoftware.com/: