Buy LH ticket on UA
Apr 4, 2018, 8:41 pm
#1
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Buy LH ticket on UA
Found a fare on LH.com for $1300, but the same flights on UA.com price out to $2300. I've usually seen both sites offer the same fares and would rather buy on UA.com for PQD. Would UA agents be able to get the same fare as LH.com? Want to make sure I know what to ask before going down the rabbit hole.
Apr 4, 2018, 8:48 pm
#2
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Apr 4, 2018, 11:23 pm
#5
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Apr 5, 2018, 12:03 am
#6
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The LH and UA codes for the same physical flight will offer different inventory; usually but not always the native flight has more space. The UA website will sell most things as UA codeshares, and the LH site will sell as LH codeshares. This is responsible for the difference.
Technically you can call UA and get the lower (assuming LH flight number) price, but you may get some pushback if the itinerary contains no UA flights. Or use Google Flights, like you did, to force .bomb to spit out LH flight numbers.
Technically you can call UA and get the lower (assuming LH flight number) price, but you may get some pushback if the itinerary contains no UA flights. Or use Google Flights, like you did, to force .bomb to spit out LH flight numbers.
Apr 5, 2018, 7:18 am
#7
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The LH and UA codes for the same physical flight will offer different inventory; usually but not always the native flight has more space. The UA website will sell most things as UA codeshares, and the LH site will sell as LH codeshares. This is responsible for the difference.
Technically you can call UA and get the lower (assuming LH flight number) price, but you may get some pushback if the itinerary contains no UA flights. Or use Google Flights, like you did, to force .bomb to spit out LH flight numbers.
Technically you can call UA and get the lower (assuming LH flight number) price, but you may get some pushback if the itinerary contains no UA flights. Or use Google Flights, like you did, to force .bomb to spit out LH flight numbers.
Apr 5, 2018, 7:56 am
#8
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A TA may be able to help check, but likely not book. They can get in trouble for plating on the wrong stock (in this case, if you wanted the LH flight numbers, they would have to book on LH ticket stock). If only one of the ways was the “problem” they could book it on UA stock with the UA codeshare on one leg and LH on the other. All LH itinerary on UA stock would most likely need to be booked by UA itself (either through google flights or a reasonable UA agent)
Apr 5, 2018, 8:31 am
#9
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Just a clarification, by definition it is not possible to buy an "LH ticket" from United. You can buy LH flights, but UA can only sell you a ticket on UA (016) ticket stock.
As OP already discovered, google flights will often allow you to click through and purchase from UA an all LH (or LX) itinerary, under native flight numbers, with no UA flight on the itinerary. This is the JV in action (no plating restrictions).
As OP already discovered, google flights will often allow you to click through and purchase from UA an all LH (or LX) itinerary, under native flight numbers, with no UA flight on the itinerary. This is the JV in action (no plating restrictions).
Apr 5, 2018, 12:55 pm
#11
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Apr 5, 2018, 2:25 pm
#12
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Said differently - yes you could force UA to plate LH flight numbers for intra-europe, but the fare you'd get would be significantly higher (as Kacee notes, the discount intra-Europe fares have plating restrictions which were recently added).
Apr 5, 2018, 4:34 pm
#13
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You don't really need to "force" the full fare LH intra-Europe options using google flights . . . united.com will typically return those if you search on its website.
Apr 5, 2018, 9:42 pm
#15
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Actually, united.com will sell the native flight numbers intra-Europe in discount classes, but only as part of a TATL (i.e., JV) fare. For example, I flew LX1652 yesterday and will fly LH249 next week as part of an SFO-MXP P fare purchased on united.com via google flights.