Deceptive pricing on connecting itineraries {workaround to married segment pricing}
#16
Join Date: Aug 2011
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Posts: 8,634
That's an interesting set of examples. IMHO it shows that UA is not honoring its published Customer Commitment.
http://www.united.com/web/en-US/cont...omerfirst.aspx
Advise about lowest available fares
On our website, at our ticket counters and city ticket offices, or when customers call United Reservations to inquire about a fare or reservation, we will tell customers that the lowest fare we offer may be available through one of our other sales channels, if that is the case.
Since airlines offered the Customer Commitment elements in 1999 to forestall legislative requirements, this looks DOT-complaint worthy to me.
http://www.oig.dot.gov/sites/dot/fil.../av2001020.pdf
http://www.united.com/web/en-US/cont...omerfirst.aspx
Advise about lowest available fares
On our website, at our ticket counters and city ticket offices, or when customers call United Reservations to inquire about a fare or reservation, we will tell customers that the lowest fare we offer may be available through one of our other sales channels, if that is the case.
Since airlines offered the Customer Commitment elements in 1999 to forestall legislative requirements, this looks DOT-complaint worthy to me.
http://www.oig.dot.gov/sites/dot/fil.../av2001020.pdf
It's arguably deceptive if you take into account UA's "guarantee" that you will get its lowest available fare booking on .com: When it comes to finding the lowest United fare online, we guarantee you will find it on united.com.
What they don't disclose is that their booking engine will not actually show find you the lowest available fare for a connecting route.
What they don't disclose is that their booking engine will not actually show find you the lowest available fare for a connecting route.
Last edited by FlyinHawaiian; Feb 3, 2014 at 8:38 am Reason: multi-quote should be used
#17
Join Date: Aug 2013
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Tbbthbbbthbbth!
this post is a FT equivalent of tech-blog click-bait.
Last edited by USHPNWDLUA; Feb 3, 2014 at 8:45 am Reason: Others made the same points I did, only better. Cut to the salient point.
#19
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But see, here's the issue: it's not actually finding cheaper fares that UA intends to offer for sale. It's tricking the system into giving the customer a price that s/he is not supposed to get. On other airlines - DL, for example - married segments are a bar to using the individual-segment availabilities. I'm pretty sure that that's what UA means to be doing, but it's broken. I'm much happier this way.
I do agree with you that it is possible to use united.com multicity search to price out an A->B->C trip using generous per-segment A-B + B-C inventory and covering the trip with a single A->C fare in a lower fare class than is offered in the married-segment A-C-through-B inventory. But are you sure that that is what is happening here? In the fare constructions sbm12 has provided I see multiple fares covering a journey, in which case using inventory per each fare might make sense.
I haven't studied these examples deeply enough to see for sure what's up.
#20
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But see, here's the issue: it's not actually finding cheaper fares that UA intends to offer for sale. It's tricking the system into giving the customer a price that s/he is not supposed to get. On other airlines - DL, for example - married segments are a bar to using the individual-segment availabilities. I'm pretty sure that that's what UA means to be doing, but it's broken. I'm much happier this way.
#21
Join Date: Aug 2011
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 8,634
Are you totally sure about this? If these trips are actually being fared out with individual-segment fares and if the fares allow end-on-end combinations into a single trip, then I think you are wrong here. Have you looked closely at this specific example?
I do agree with you that it is possible to use united.com multicity search to price out an A->B->C trip using generous per-segment A-B + B-C inventory and covering the trip with a single A->C fare in a lower fare class than is offered in the married-segment A-C-through-B inventory. But are you sure that that is what is happening here? In the fare constructions sbm12 has provided I see multiple fares covering a journey, in which case using inventory per each fare might make sense.
I haven't studied these examples deeply enough to see for sure what's up.
I do agree with you that it is possible to use united.com multicity search to price out an A->B->C trip using generous per-segment A-B + B-C inventory and covering the trip with a single A->C fare in a lower fare class than is offered in the married-segment A-C-through-B inventory. But are you sure that that is what is happening here? In the fare constructions sbm12 has provided I see multiple fares covering a journey, in which case using inventory per each fare might make sense.
I haven't studied these examples deeply enough to see for sure what's up.
#22
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Are you totally sure about this? If these trips are actually being fared out with individual-segment fares and if the fares allow end-on-end combinations into a single trip, then I think you are wrong here. Have you looked closely at this specific example?
I do agree with you that it is possible to use united.com multicity search to price out an A->B->C trip using generous per-segment A-B + B-C inventory and covering the trip with a single A->C fare in a lower fare class than is offered in the married-segment A-C-through-B inventory. But are you sure that that is what is happening here? In the fare constructions sbm12 has provided I see multiple fares covering a journey, in which case using inventory per each fare might make sense.
I haven't studied these examples deeply enough to see for sure what's up.
I do agree with you that it is possible to use united.com multicity search to price out an A->B->C trip using generous per-segment A-B + B-C inventory and covering the trip with a single A->C fare in a lower fare class than is offered in the married-segment A-C-through-B inventory. But are you sure that that is what is happening here? In the fare constructions sbm12 has provided I see multiple fares covering a journey, in which case using inventory per each fare might make sense.
I haven't studied these examples deeply enough to see for sure what's up.
And yet I had minimal trouble locating them. I'm not nearly as convinced that they are "unusual" rather than UA's SOP right now.
Sure, but I believe it is worth raising the point that UA is not actually delivering on their advertised policy of sharing the lowest fare when searching.
I get that they think they might know better than me about my trip. But the part where I can routinely get different prices based on the type of search being performed is bad for consumers.
Last edited by iluv2fly; Feb 3, 2014 at 8:50 am Reason: merge
#23
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I tried a BWI-FAT search and if I start doing multi-flight searches and inputting hub connection points (e.g. DEN), I can reduce the price another $100+. It just seems like there is an issue (or possibly UA designed) with how connections are priced and hand holding is needed to get the lowest price. It's too bad for the consumer.
#24
Join Date: Aug 2011
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I tried a BWI-FAT search and if I start doing multi-flight searches and inputting hub connection points (e.g. DEN), I can reduce the price another $100+. It just seems like there is an issue with how connections are priced and hand holding is needed to get the lowest price. It's too bad for the consumer.
#25
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Married segment logic is a technical control built into inventory of the fare buckets, not a rule or anything of that nature. United doesn't intend to allow you to book the cheaper inventory together on the same itinerary. It would be entirely possible and legal to purchase them on separate itineraries, although you'd lose protection against misconnects, etc. As sbm12 found out, there are ways to trick the United website into breaking the married segment logic (and many other rules, actually.) But the more expensive price is the only one United intended to offer and exposing it is likely to accomplish nothing except for a fix for that bug.
#26
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That's some serious jack-assery.
I wonder if they pull the same crap on premium tickets.
Will have to investigate.
Thanks for the heads up!
I wonder if they pull the same crap on premium tickets.
Will have to investigate.
Thanks for the heads up!
#27
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But isn't sbm12's point that you can consistently get the lower price if you know how to find it? And yet UA purports to guarantee that .com will find it for you. When it often will not.
#28
Join Date: Aug 2011
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 8,634
Married segment logic is a technical control built into inventory of the fare buckets, not a rule or anything of that nature. United doesn't intend to allow you to book the cheaper inventory together on the same itinerary. It would be entirely possible and legal to purchase them on separate itineraries, although you'd lose protection against misconnects, etc. As sbm12 found out, there are ways to trick the United website into breaking the married segment logic (and many other rules, actually.) But the more expensive price is the only one United intended to offer and exposing it is likely to accomplish nothing except for a fix for that bug.
There's nothing unsavory going on here except a pro-consumer bug.
#29
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Huh? The premise of FT is pro-consumer (for the most part). Isn't that why you create wiki's upon wiki's?
Seems to me that somebody is a little too interested in protecting his own private loophole. Maybe that's why this forum doesn't have a wiki on married segment logic?
Seems to me that somebody is a little too interested in protecting his own private loophole. Maybe that's why this forum doesn't have a wiki on married segment logic?
#30
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