tkc98110

OK, it happened to me again on this trip to Greece--I tried to book a ticket SEA-SFO-ZRH (on UA) with a connecting flight ZRH-SKG on Swiss. Return route in reverse. To book that on UA the fares were in the $3K plus range, but to book the same ticket on Orbitz was in the $1300 range. United 1K desk couldn't do any better than the $3K range. So I booked separate flights on US and on Swiss, but of course if there's a cancellation then you're not protected like you would be if you booked it all as one itinerary. So, why can Orbitz do that for me, but United can't? And is there a work around with UA that I should know to ask for? Thanks! And while I'm asking, is there a way to book GPU upgradeable fares through Orbitz? Can I ask for a W fare and apply a GPU after ticketing?

WineCountryUA

Without more details, just a guess, but this may be a plating issue. LX may not be allowing UA access to LX's most discount fares but the Orbitz is ticketing on LX ticket stock (so having to LX discount fares).

What ticket stock is Orbitz using?
What are the fare classes for the UA ticket? For the Orbitz ticket?

Also might be a fare combinability issue. Are trying to force a minimum fare on UA (for GPUs?)

tkc98110

those are more details than I know, or want to try and manage in my brain. I guess my high level bemusement is, shouldn't Star Alliance partners be able to be as flexible and compatible with each other, as a 3rd party is? I know, probably a silly question.

skywardhunter

If you book through LX which price do you get?

That's what WineCountryUA's post boils down to

WineCountryUA

No, because Orbitz will plate the ticket on the partner's ticket stock and UA can not do that.

However, without those details, it not possible to be conclusive.

milepig

Can you find it on Google Flights and send it to UA?

sincx

I think per IATA rules, the ticket described by the OP will be plated on UA stock, since the first international segment is UA.

I've personally experienced multiple occasions where united.com wouldn't fare a ticket with a partner segment correctly, but Expedia could. Booking through Expedia resulted in a 016 ticket with the credit card charge coming from United. Received full PQDs.

cfischer

Kacee

You can call it either a plating restriction or a combinability issue resulting from inventory unavailability. UA won't book the flights end-on-end on a single ticket, but only the through fare (which books into a higher fare class, and is thus more expensive).

Just keep in mind that UA is not in business to sell you the cheapest possible ticket. It is in business to make money, and has many effective tools for doing just that.

xliioper

I'm not quite clear on what OP booked on Orbitz. Did he get separate tickets or all flights on a single ticket? UA has cheap fares on SEA-ZRH, but these definitely have end-on-end fare combination restrictions which you can find in the fare rules --

"END-ON-END NOT PERMITTED. SIDE TRIPS NOT PERMITTED"

This means these fares cannot be combined with other fares on a single ticket no matter who you book it through. The only way to combine them with fares to other destinations is by booking on separate tickets. In order to get all flights on single ticket, you either have to upfare to fares that allows end-on-end fare combinations, or book all segments on a single through fare.

myperks

skywardhunter

But if they codeshare on the onward European flight OP could book a single fare to the final destination, rather than needing to combine two fares. Too many variables that we don't know

simmang

I recently ran into a similar situation. Expedia gave us a roundtrip itinerary from Houston to Rome with UA and AC segments for a good price. I could not price the itinerary the same way on either the United or Air Canada websites (which priced almost double), but Expedia gave it and ticketed it just fine. We saved quite a bit of money doing it this way, and I still got all the PQDs (ticket was 016 and first segments were AC). It was for premium economy so don't know if that has anything to do with it.

BearX220

Just had the same thing happen with an Aer Lingus itin. $100 less via Expedia than via EI itself. It's common to see OTAs offer discount fare buckets for sale after they are gone from the airline's captive inventory.

docbert

What dates? Without that, it's just a guess as to why you can't buy this ticket on UA.

Looking at some random dates (eg, out Sept 18, Back Oct 2), UA will sell you these flights for $1333 (even less in Basic Economy), priced as a single SEA-SKG "T" fare so no issues with combinability/end-on-end /etc as these only apply when trying to mix fares together.