star_world

I spent the last few years needing to travel between the NYC area and PHL on a regular basis (with reasonable fares), and the only viable options I ever found were:

1. US LGA-PIT and drive to Cleveland
2. US LGA-CMH and drive to Cleveland
3. US or UA PHL-CLE
4. US LGA-PHL-CLE

All of these options were generally in the $250-350 range while the UA flights out of EWR and LGA were $900-1500.

QBK

Keep in mind that this is textbook hidden city ticketing, and is against the contract of carriage. General wisdom is that you can probably get away with it occasionally as long as you don't put your FF# in the reservation, but doing it repeatedly and/or trying to collect miles will probably lead to consequences that really aren't worth it (e.g.: a bill for a full Y fare ticket between EWR and CLE, and/or revocation of your FF account).

entropy

Perhaps, but price gouging based on a monopoly is also a violation of anti-trust laws...

hindle

Absolutely correct with EWR-IAH. $1300 for a RT ticket. I typically fly out of PHL instead and it's a $300 ticket. I also get upgraded 95% of the time on the PHL-IAH-PHL flights. :-)

COGal

You could always book using the minimum stay of 3 days for the lower fare, and then do a same day change to return a day earlier.

TA

Actually, I think that price *dropping* to ensure monopoly power is against anti-trust laws. There's nothing against extracting everything you can through high prices while you are a monopoly, as long as you're not preventing entry of competitors.

But I might be wrong.

fivevsone

Interesting. Thanks for heads up.
T

WineCountryUA

also 3-day fare rules for SFO-EWR (and LAX-EWR I believe), hence I use JFK for the better aircraft at better fares even for northern NJ trips.

flyingnosh

Last year I did several round trips EWR-RDU and it was the same deal. The round trip fare when staying at least 3 nights was around $320, otherwise it was $1000 exactly. But round trips PHL-RDU on US were around $320 regardless of duration. So that would be my recommendation: try PHL-CLE on US if there is such a flight.

Ahh, the good old days on People Express. $19 each way EWR-BOS and EWR-DCA. No surcharges or fees.

nwff

United does the same thing on the IAH/IND city pair. I've found that there's often easy availability for award seats on these over-priced routes. (EWR/CLE is wide open for saver economy awards on the dates you mention.) If you don't mind burning the miles, it's only 20K for RT EWR/CLE.

Often1

Let's start with reality:

1. Engage in hidden city ticketing on a regular basis and you will get caught, have your MP account zeroed out and wind up in E- middle seats with the kettles for the rest of your life. Additionally, in IRROPS you get rerouted not to CLE, but to your ticketed destination. Not to mention, some employers frown on employees who defraud other businesses. Leaves them wondering if the employee

2. Would love to hear how it's an antitrust violation for an air carrier to charge prices which willing customers pay and where competitors have chosen not to fly the route.

3. The fares are high because UA believes that it can get those fares and likely is getting them. During the recession which drove UA & CO together, the response to falling demand would have been to cut fares. Now, it's to cut capacity until the fares make the route profitable.

4. For all the reasons why OP doesn't want to schlep to PHL, LGA, JFK or elsewhere, people will pay through the nose for EWR-CLE. So the prices are high.

buckeyefanflyer

You can come and go Friday for $416.00. Always get good deals on Black Friday since travel is light. Do this Monday $1,258.00.

Billygreg

This is true all over and is likely because of the moronic 3 day rule. I have had prices of over $1200 r/t from IAD-AUS, IAD-DEN and IAD-SAN when looking at the flight 3 weeks out or more but only staying one night and often this is both direct and with one stop. UA is the worst offender on this as I can find US flights out of DCA vs IAD direct to some places much cheaper.

buckeyefanflyer

Here are the fares for these markets if oyu book today for 12/14 depart
and return 12-17.

CLE-EWR $328.00
PIT-EWR $183.00
CMH-EWR $327.00
ORD-EWR $318.00
DTW-EWR $300.00
IAH-EWR $422.00
CVG-EWR $367.00
IND-EWR $394.00
BOS-EWR $120.00
PHL-EWR $451.00 WOW now that is a issue

As you can see at least for this time frame the CLE-EWR is not that bad.

UA-NYC

That's because you are showing prices for a 4 day trip - shorten your timeframe by a day or two and watch all those prices double or triple