Jun 12, 2019, 9:11 pm
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
Potential reasons for high fares
-- the lower fare classes are sold out
-- the lower fare classes are not available due to fare rule restrictions
..... day of the week travel restrictions, Saturday night stay requirement, minimum stay requirement, advance purchase requirements, ...
-- desired fares are not combinable
-- discount fares not available for one-ways, only roundtrips Why are international OWs so expensive, such high fare classes?
-- discount inventory for codeshare marketing airline is gone, but flight operator may have discount fare (or the reverse)
-- Plating -- airlines restrict the best fare to their ticket stock, meaning ticketing that flight on another ticket stock will be more expensive
-- Airline is figuring it will still sell (due to last minute purchases0 even if the competition is lower earlier. Such as peak leisure periods or special events.
-- Airline is placing a premium on non-stop (monopoly?) versus alternative connecting routings
If you find an expensive flight, start by checking the fare class and compare to the less expensive option -- that generally will explain a lot.
Archive thread
-- the lower fare classes are sold out
-- the lower fare classes are not available due to fare rule restrictions
..... day of the week travel restrictions, Saturday night stay requirement, minimum stay requirement, advance purchase requirements, ...
-- desired fares are not combinable
-- discount fares not available for one-ways, only roundtrips Why are international OWs so expensive, such high fare classes?
-- discount inventory for codeshare marketing airline is gone, but flight operator may have discount fare (or the reverse)
-- Plating -- airlines restrict the best fare to their ticket stock, meaning ticketing that flight on another ticket stock will be more expensive
-- Airline is figuring it will still sell (due to last minute purchases0 even if the competition is lower earlier. Such as peak leisure periods or special events.
-- Airline is placing a premium on non-stop (monopoly?) versus alternative connecting routings
If you find an expensive flight, start by checking the fare class and compare to the less expensive option -- that generally will explain a lot.
Archive thread
Consolidated "Why is this UA fare so expensive?" thread
Feb 14, 2023, 4:03 am
#166
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 57,599
I’m currently on a SEA-MUC trip. I was originally going to do it on DL because their J fare was cheaper than UA’s, but when I compared DL’s miles and $$ fare with UA’s, UA was cheaper, so that is who I flew. AA’s fares were high and their flight times were inconvenient, so they weren’t even in the running. In April we are flying DL on a domestic trip because they are cheaper and have better flight times.
The days of defaulting to UA in order to maintain status are long gone.
The days of defaulting to UA in order to maintain status are long gone.
Feb 14, 2023, 6:28 am
#167
Join Date: Jun 2014
Programs: UA MM
Posts: 4,126
Sometimes I don't know how UA stays in business with their high prices. I'm looking at BOS-SAN in First/Business in a few weeks. Here's what I'm seeing:
I would like to fly on UA and maintain at least Platinum status, but I can't justify 3x the price. It's crazy!
- AS - nonstop - I class - $619
- DL - nonstop - I class - $729
- B6 - nonstop - I class - $944
- UA - 1 stop (various connection cities) - C class - $1859
I would like to fly on UA and maintain at least Platinum status, but I can't justify 3x the price. It's crazy!
Feb 14, 2023, 6:29 am
#168
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: NYC, LON
Programs: *
Posts: 2,773
Sometimes I don't know how UA stays in business with their high prices. I'm looking at BOS-SAN in First/Business in a few weeks. Here's what I'm seeing:
- AS - nonstop - I class - $619
- DL - nonstop - I class - $729
- B6 - nonstop - I class - $944
- UA - 1 stop (various connection cities) - C class - $1859
Feb 14, 2023, 6:42 am
#169
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: DAY
Programs: UA 1K 1MM; Marriott LT Titanium; Amex MR; Chase UR; Hertz PC; Global Entry
Posts: 10,159
Sometimes I don't know how UA stays in business with their high prices. I'm looking at BOS-SAN in First/Business in a few weeks. Here's what I'm seeing:
I would like to fly on UA and maintain at least Platinum status, but I can't justify 3x the price. It's crazy!
- AS - nonstop - I class - $619
- DL - nonstop - I class - $729
- B6 - nonstop - I class - $944
- UA - 1 stop (various connection cities) - C class - $1859
I would like to fly on UA and maintain at least Platinum status, but I can't justify 3x the price. It's crazy!
These are not really directly comparable though. I doubt many pax from BOS to XXX are ending in SAN or from XXX to SAN originated in BOS. The seats on those planes are likely not in competition with the direct BOS-SAN flights. The availability of only C class suggests that UA is not having problems selling F seats on either BOS to XXX or XXX to SAN.
Feb 14, 2023, 9:27 am
#170
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,461
Sometimes I don't know how UA stays in business with their high prices. I'm looking at BOS-SAN in First/Business in a few weeks. Here's what I'm seeing:
- AS - nonstop - I class - $619
- DL - nonstop - I class - $729
- B6 - nonstop - I class - $944
- UA - 1 stop (various connection cities) - C class - $1859
Feb 14, 2023, 11:07 am
#171
Join Date: Jun 2014
Programs: UA MM
Posts: 4,126
It's not crazy. Looking at a single set of flights says absolutely nothing about an airline's overall pricing strategy. At a micro-level, the price of each flight is determined primarily by available inventory on that specific flight. It is simply a mistake to draw broad conclusions about "competitiveness" on that basis. This is particularly true when you're looking at a connecting itinerary, since demand for flights in or out of the connection point can dramatically impact the price of the throughfare.
Feb 14, 2023, 11:13 am
#172
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: BOS, PVG
Programs: United 1K and 1MM, Marriott Ambassador
Posts: 10,000
Out of curiosity, I looked at BOS-SAN F fares for the first week of April.
On many days, F fares are around $800.
Normal routing like BOS-DEN-SAN.
It's not much higher than B6/AA/DL.
Feb 14, 2023, 11:13 am
#173
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: SF Bay Area
Programs: UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist, Virtuoso Travel Agent, Commercial Pilot
Posts: 2,117
I agree that you can't draw conclusions from one specific flight. However, BOS-SAN has multiple connection opportunites through EWR, ORD, IAD, DEN, IAH and even SFO. I suppose you could add LAX, too, if the timing is perfect. That's six or seven potential routings. Is UA is selling out F on all of those connection possibilities? If so, we can all forget about the TOD opportunities, etc.
Feb 14, 2023, 11:32 am
#174
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: MSP
Programs: DL PM, UA Gold, WN, Global Entry; +others wherever miles/points are found
Posts: 14,417
Longer SAN flights also tend to command a revenue premium for being nonstop, so routing something like BOS-EWR-SAN is just giving away BOS-EWR for free since you could get the same (or probably higher) fare for just EWR-SAN. UA's dynamics are always a bit different because they hub O&D markets.
Feb 14, 2023, 11:46 am
#175
Join Date: Feb 2015
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 957
Short answer: No, with a but. Long answer: yes, with an and. 
Inventory management is really complicated. You're going to run into three different things: (a) married inventory, (b) codeshare inventory; and (c) faring. For married inventory, UA and LX can (and do) publish EWR-ZRH-FLR inventory that is independent of EWR-ZRH and ZRH-FLR. For codeshare inventory -- UA may codeshare some LX flights and not others. United.com preferentially returns codeshare flights. Codeshare flights have their own inventory, which may be higher or lower than the native flight inventory. Therefore, the inventory you see for UA8123 differs from LX123 even if they are the same actual flight. (And then that gets swallowed into the married inventory discussion). And for faring -- in most cases, your fare is much less expensive if it applies for the entire trip to the next stopover point. So, if UA and LX have decided that EWR-ZRH-FLR should have D inventory on one set of flights, but P inventory on another, then the price can be twice as high.
Inventory management is really complicated. You're going to run into three different things: (a) married inventory, (b) codeshare inventory; and (c) faring. For married inventory, UA and LX can (and do) publish EWR-ZRH-FLR inventory that is independent of EWR-ZRH and ZRH-FLR. For codeshare inventory -- UA may codeshare some LX flights and not others. United.com preferentially returns codeshare flights. Codeshare flights have their own inventory, which may be higher or lower than the native flight inventory. Therefore, the inventory you see for UA8123 differs from LX123 even if they are the same actual flight. (And then that gets swallowed into the married inventory discussion). And for faring -- in most cases, your fare is much less expensive if it applies for the entire trip to the next stopover point. So, if UA and LX have decided that EWR-ZRH-FLR should have D inventory on one set of flights, but P inventory on another, then the price can be twice as high.
Feb 14, 2023, 12:51 pm
#177
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: HNL
Programs: UA GS4MM, MR LT Plat, Hilton Gold
Posts: 6,447
Feb 14, 2023, 1:57 pm
#178
Join Date: Dec 1999
Programs: UA 1K/1MM, AC 25K, Marriott LT Platinum
Posts: 436
It's not crazy. Looking at a single set of flights says absolutely nothing about an airline's overall pricing strategy. At a micro-level, the price of each flight is determined primarily by available inventory on that specific flight. It is simply a mistake to draw broad conclusions about "competitiveness" on that basis. This is particularly true when you're looking at a connecting itinerary, since demand for flights in or out of the connection point can dramatically impact the price of the throughfare.
Yes, there are lower UA fares on certain days of the week and certain times, but as above, Thursday evenings are very expensive on UA.
Feb 14, 2023, 3:57 pm
#179
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: MSP
Programs: DL PM, UA Gold, WN, Global Entry; +others wherever miles/points are found
Posts: 14,417
I might still do it, but I would definitely think twice about adding a LAX/SEA connection just to save a couple hundred dollars.
Feb 14, 2023, 7:07 pm
#180
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 57,599
for the better part of the last three decades, I have been starting all of my leisure travel trips on United on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. Fares are generally lower mid week, and snagging a miles and money upgrade at purchase is much easier then as well. When I was a 1K, I would call the 1K line and have a very experienced and helpful agent help me find the best opportunities for an upgrade at purchase.