hooterbif

On ual.com, I priced ROC-CUN on Feb. 10 to Feb. 17 as separate one-way fares:

$239
$167
for a total of $406. This includes ALL taxes and fees.

The same flights booked as a round trip come to $489 after taxes and fees on ual.com.

So, I guess we should all be booking one-way tickets!

fzwinter

Have a look at the last page of this thread - same thing happened to me yesterday:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...l#post13327665

hungarianhc

This isn't that uncommon - I always check both. If the prices are pretty close, I book the two one-ways.

Firewind

Almost as a matter of principle, whenever feasible (e.g., when the price is within a few dollars)!

formeraa

The only downside would be if you had to change your reservations unexpectedly. If the fares are restricted, you could end up with two change fees because technically they are two separate reservations.

jjclancy

Don't complain about the ua.com, any booking channel of the OP's itinerary suffers from this.

OP is seeing a lower CUN-ROC oneway (LXA10 fare basis) than is offered when pricing the roundtrip (T0MX1F fare basis). I'm not sure why (point of sale restrictions? combinability?) but it's not the fault of da bomb.

(Your specific experience on .bomb on a different itinerary may well be a different issue).

epiding

if you're not sure about the return leg... hold it as a one-way award, then cancel when you're sure about the return. protects you from risk of the change. though of course it doesnt protect from fare increase on the return by the time you are sure.

travel insurance could help too.

uchuuace

Canceling only works if the OP is a 1K otherwise OP eats the cancellation fee and the savings isn't there anymore. If OP has the miles, this might be a good way to get a premium cabin one of the ways, though.

hooterbif

I am 1K (I should update my profile!).

I really would like to book the whole trip as an award, but I can't find availability. I have been checking for two months now. I don't have enough miles for a First class saver award, but I do have enough miles for Economy saver on one leg and then First saver on the return leg. Unfortunately, that combination is only available on Continental, and United would charge me the full First saver round trip miles because they don't issue mixed awards when flown on Star partners. Meanwhile, they also don't issue one-way awards when flown on Star partners.

I'm screwed!

stravels

Was trying to duplicate a colleague's itinerary and entered each segment individually because the HNL-BWI, BWI-SAN, LAX-SFO-HNL schedule & price option was not matching her fare of $810. Entering each of the 6 segments individually got a lower price--$780--same dates and flights. Tried it again, and same thing happened. Any explanations? Or, can someone direct me to a thread where this is explained? I haven't figured out the search options.

Also, if the S fare is available for all segments, why does .bomb return two segments in W fare? In above, we really wanted to go in/out of DCA instead of BWI, but it changed to W fare even though S is available, and price is $1k+.

WineCountryUA

Don't know a complete primer on the black art of airline pricing.

But airline pricing can change many times in one day so duplicate a booking made at a different time can likely result in a different price for many reasons.

As for the availability of a certain fare, for a fare to be offer --
there needs to be a fare filed for the fare class,
the fare class needs to have availability and
all the fare rules need to be meet.
So it could be S9 but it is possible no S fare is filed for DCA .
A fare rule from one airport may not be the same as a "similar" fare class fare rule from another. In a multi-segment trip, the fare rules of each segment may not allow combinability of all potential fare classes. And if this seems weirdly complex, it is, that is airline pricing.

stravels

Thanks! I understand that airline pricing is a big mystery.

However, six hours later the same things is happening. Specifying each segment individually returned a fare about $30 cheaper than selecting the exact same segments using the schedule & price. Price option was even higher. ITA didn't return the cheaper options either.

drjhwang

given that many domestic one-way fares are <$150, it still makes sense on most occasions to book separate one-ways and throw away the ticket if plans change. in that case, you also wouldn't be stuck with UA if you're trying to find a replacement flight on relatively short notice.

Nicholas

Sometimes UA publishes different fares for US-Mexico vs. Mexico-US -- I've seen cases where an L fare was available in one direction, but not in the other, which is why a RT priced in a T. Not very often, but it happens.

cinaedross

I do this all the time I have a lot of flights that are DEN-XXX work week XXX-MSY Then MSY-XXX work week XXX-DEN. Sometimes 2 RT's are cheaper, sometimes 4 1 way tickets are cheaper. I always look at RT and 1 way.