Talk about a price increase, or am I doing something wrong?
Jul 13, 2018, 2:45 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 1,526
Talk about a price increase, or am I doing something wrong?
Been looking at flights the past 3 days.
ALB -> SJD 1/7/19
SJD -> ALB 1/14/19
the "big 3" have had:
Delta = $1,310 for First
United = 1,137 for First
AA = 1,283 for First
United had the best flight (ie, routing, etc.)
I've been checking prices on the website, without logging in.
Today, I got sticker shock.
United lists the same flight for almost $4,000
Tried several diff. computers/ISP and browser just to see.
The other airlines still have the "same" price.
Now, I know prices fluctuate, but this one just seems very odd.
I vaguely recall running into something similar last year or so where a few days the price tripled and then waited a few more days and it went back to "normal".
But does United really think that flight can command $4,000? (OK, it was like $3,9something)
or am I searching wrong?
ALB -> SJD 1/7/19
SJD -> ALB 1/14/19
the "big 3" have had:
Delta = $1,310 for First
United = 1,137 for First
AA = 1,283 for First
United had the best flight (ie, routing, etc.)
I've been checking prices on the website, without logging in.
Today, I got sticker shock.
United lists the same flight for almost $4,000
Tried several diff. computers/ISP and browser just to see.
The other airlines still have the "same" price.
Now, I know prices fluctuate, but this one just seems very odd.
I vaguely recall running into something similar last year or so where a few days the price tripled and then waited a few more days and it went back to "normal".
But does United really think that flight can command $4,000? (OK, it was like $3,9something)
or am I searching wrong?
Last edited by hurnik; Jul 13, 2018 at 8:09 pm Reason: Put the wrong month in. Too much crack
Jul 13, 2018, 5:42 pm
#4
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Join Date: May 2007
Location: Houston
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There is no ticketing volume this far in advance, so the prices are a bit irrelevant.
UA has recently made some RM changes that casual observation suggests they've increased airfares for way-in-advance ticketing.
Wait until 2 months out to see what the fares looks lik. The schedules and equipment aren't even really set until ~3 months out.
UA has recently made some RM changes that casual observation suggests they've increased airfares for way-in-advance ticketing.
Wait until 2 months out to see what the fares looks lik. The schedules and equipment aren't even really set until ~3 months out.
Jul 13, 2018, 8:08 pm
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 1,526
OH jeez I screwed up
1/7/19 - 1/14/19
I'll edit the OP.
Sorry about that.
No, I totally screwed up when I typed the dates in. Had "7" on the brain for some reason.
1/7/19 - 1/14/19 is what the dates were.
Sorry about that.
Thanks, although I typed the wrong dates.
1/7/19 - 1/14/19 were the correct dates.
Although I know that's still far in advance for UA (I'm surrpised they don't eventually cancel the flight all together since it actually gets you there on the same day you travel). All their other times are 2-day travel plans.
1/7/19 - 1/14/19
I'll edit the OP.
Sorry about that.
No, I totally screwed up when I typed the dates in. Had "7" on the brain for some reason.
1/7/19 - 1/14/19 is what the dates were.
Sorry about that.
There is no ticketing volume this far in advance, so the prices are a bit irrelevant.
UA has recently made some RM changes that casual observation suggests they've increased airfares for way-in-advance ticketing.
Wait until 2 months out to see what the fares looks lik. The schedules and equipment aren't even really set until ~3 months out.
UA has recently made some RM changes that casual observation suggests they've increased airfares for way-in-advance ticketing.
Wait until 2 months out to see what the fares looks lik. The schedules and equipment aren't even really set until ~3 months out.
1/7/19 - 1/14/19 were the correct dates.
Although I know that's still far in advance for UA (I'm surrpised they don't eventually cancel the flight all together since it actually gets you there on the same day you travel). All their other times are 2-day travel plans.
Last edited by Pat89339; Jul 13, 2018 at 11:20 pm
Jul 13, 2018, 8:41 pm
#7
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If you use googleflights, then click through to book on UA, you can get it for $1302.59.
search using united.com:
using googleflights:
Jul 13, 2018, 10:34 pm
#8
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Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 23,012
EF is showing all F buckets zeroed out on 1/14. If return is changed to 1/15, EF shows C6 D6 Z6 P6. Don't know why UA has zeroed out the fare buckets, but I'm pretty confident it has nothing to do with OP's searches. Google flights seems to think there is D bucket available, but EF says otherwise. Searching on united.com yields a broken fare on the return (see the fare rules), with a DNA0A9EY fare on SJD-CHI and a WAA2AKFN (P) fare on CHI-ALB due to the fact that there is no married segment through fare bucket availability.
Last edited by xliioper; Jul 13, 2018 at 11:13 pm
Jul 14, 2018, 12:19 am
#9
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EF is showing all F buckets zeroed out on 1/14. If return is changed to 1/15, EF shows C6 D6 Z6 P6. Don't know why UA has zeroed out the fare buckets, but I'm pretty confident it has nothing to do with OP's searches. Google flights seems to think there is D bucket available, but EF says otherwise. Searching on united.com yields a broken fare on the return (see the fare rules), with a DNA0A9EY fare on SJD-CHI and a WAA2AKFN (P) fare on CHI-ALB due to the fact that there is no married segment through fare bucket availability.
Jul 14, 2018, 12:54 am
#10
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The inventory exists, otherwise you couldn't book with a gf click-through.
Jul 14, 2018, 1:23 am
#11
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The inventory is not really there per se; SJD-ALB is J4 C0 D0 because of the 8-seat 737 silliness that's booked 4/8.
Google Flights is managing something interesting with its delegation logic. It delegates the second segment to E, allowing the use of the ENA0A9FN D fare on the standalone first segment. The delegation appears to split the segments (SJD-ORD is J4 C4 D4 Z0). You can get both return segments in D on ua.com by inserting a validation break, or just wait for them to assign a real aircraft and release more J space.
Google Flights is managing something interesting with its delegation logic. It delegates the second segment to E, allowing the use of the ENA0A9FN D fare on the standalone first segment. The delegation appears to split the segments (SJD-ORD is J4 C4 D4 Z0). You can get both return segments in D on ua.com by inserting a validation break, or just wait for them to assign a real aircraft and release more J space.
Jul 14, 2018, 1:29 am
#12
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Jul 14, 2018, 5:48 am
#13
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Exactly - it’s married segment coming into play (or almost the opposite - because the availability on the individual segments is higher than when searched combine. As previously noted you can use google flights to ‘overcome’ this. Or search multi city on ua as alb-sjd sjd-ord ord-alb
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Jul 14, 2018 at 11:29 am Reason: merging consecutive posts by same member
Jul 14, 2018, 6:50 am
#14
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My question is whether the GF fare remains when you actually click through to book. I’ve had several times when I could push through the itin to UA but got either a price change or fare not available message when I clicked to the booking screen.
Jul 14, 2018, 8:20 am
#15
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It's not the opposite of married segment logic, it is exactly married segment logic. The ability to purchase a particular fare on a multiple segment itin like this is dictated by the bucket availability in the married segments, not the individual segments. You don't seem to understand how married segment logic works.
