Lifetimenotelite

Trying to book to vacation trips next summer out of BOS. In one case I’m cover six tickets so being more price sensitive .

Why would Expedia show cheaper fare than the MuleagePus app?

Deciding where I should book JetBlue now or wait to see UA fares drop over time. Cost delta right now is significant.

I do have bunch of upgrades left but not worth the premium as these are 4-5 hour flights.

Am I just to early in the game and wait or should I just book now?

WineCountryUA

Need to see the details to understand

Same flights? same flight numbers / codeshares? same fare class?

Lifetimenotelite

same departure and return dates. Expedia giving me cheaper fares than the UA app. The UA app isn’t even giving me options for those lower cost flights.

Usually with just me and wife domestic flights and not super price sensitive but shopping around was surprised as the fare disparities.

JetBlue non stop 60% of the UA fare and with a connection. I’m loyal but I’m not THAT loyal 🤣

WineCountryUA

UA will give preference to certain flights and certain layovers, also need to be careful the cheapest are not necessarily listed first. -- especially if better times, shorter layovers

Take the Expedia flights details and enter using muti-city entry into UA

Google flights is also another tool and it will send you to UA to book.

Expedia has a number of issues, lousy customer service, hard to change tickets, and to change if the price drops, ....
Sometime UA takes a little prodding to get the cheapest flights but to avioding expedia, I would do the extra work

Lifetimenotelite

Yep I’ve spent hours in it already. Will go back in tomorrow to try and find reasonable fares.

UA app not very good.

Repooc17

Could it be because the UA app is only showing you non-BE fares and Expedia is showing you BE fares?

Why not post additional details? Otherwise, everyone would be speculating.

Side note to your earlier comment: never ever be loyal. UA isn't loyal to you.

Kacee

The UA app is the best, most functional app in the industry, and by a relatively large margin.

For complex fare searches, there are certainly better tools, including ITA Matrix and Google flights. Although it sounds like a key issue here may be understanding how airfare is priced. But impossible to tell exactly what's going on without specific details on the itinerary.

prestonh

i generally agree with this statement. i would add for the OP's task i would give a try with the website. It is easier to see the sorts/filters/results than the app is (IMO) and I have regularly run into issues with the app choking on searches after about a dozen refreshes or so.

Lifetimenotelite

because if people start checking these routes it could play games with algorithms and seat availability. I’ll post up once booked I’m trying to lock in my flights so then I can lock in my hotel stay.

Oh how I miss the days of so many MP miles to burn.

Kacee

Urban myth. That's not how airfare pricing works.

Lifetimenotelite

thanks I will get on my laptop probably better for cherry picking the routing.

I have been on a booking app where myself and coworker were matching itineraries. I booked my flight and he immediately booked 10 seconds after me and his fare changed substantially.

dinoscool3

Because you bought the last fare bucket. Nothing to do with tracking and algorithms.

WineCountryUA

It does not work that way

Lux Flyer

That's the key difference from what you said before. Checking flights has no influence. You actually booking the flight does, because it changes the inventory on the actual flight and you potentially bought the last fare at that booking level. But simply checking/searching flights doesn't cause price adjustments.

jsloan

It’s extremely early to expect really good fares for next summer. In fact, you may never see really good fares for next summer on UA.

Who cares? If Expedia is significantly cheaper, book with them. (Make sure you’re searching for 6 people, though. The price for a party of 6 may be much higher, on a per-person basis, than the price for a single traveler). Trying to work out the whys of airline pricing is rarely, if ever, worth the effort.

UA fares might drop over time — again, you’re searching really early — but a bird in the hand…

I mean, it’s really early to be booking hotels as well, unless you happen to be going during a specific event or you have extremely precise requirements. But, even still, these things are not related. If you see a hotel deal that’s simply too good to pass up, book it and move on with your life. You’ll find plane tickets eventually. (I rarely book hotels early, and almost never with a pre-paid rate. IMO, the latter just isn’t worth it).

UA’s summer schedule is notional anyway. What happens if UA cuts the flight you’ve locked in?