Catman

I like U-A Connection. In fact I book most if not all of my flights there (that 1K bonus miles is so attractive.)

I'M LEAVING OUT PRICES!!! AS RANDY SAYS, WE DON'T DISCUSS FARES HERE!

But a wierd thing happened when I tried to Book my annual birthday trip to Texas to have Shiner Bock with my very best buds the Texas Rangers (the police version

The U-A fare was outrageous for coach. For a 9 month advance booking I thought so.

They listed an alternate fare for American Air for a third of that price. It was direct too, so I went to book it at several different flights and times -- getting the same price.

I GET THE MESSAGE: Sorry, this flight is unavailable or completedly booked. Each time I hit American, then U-S Air (which I won't fly -- too many connections!)

Interesting because I got THE SAME FLIGHT AND SAME TIMES ON THE AMERICAN.COM site (Of course I paid a few dollars more, which is ok.)

I guess the flights for the end of decent before the alleged millenium are filling up fast! And maybe the airlines are only taking direct bookings from their own websites!

Another quirky thing: I'm trying to get a decent fare EWR-LAX-EWR. I got a fare that costs MORE than my Fare for LAX-HNL-OGG-LAX by a significant amount.

For one date, the fare prices for EWR-LAX-EWR are nearly the same and the total is the total of both fares. But when I book at a different time, the return is TRIPLE the departing fare (And I have a saturday stayover!)

But when I go to get the total, it's only off by a few dollars from the first group of fares.

This seems very very strange since the first group of fares has NO SATURDAY STAYOVER!

Sorry I've just confused Randy and everyone else!

But I'm hoping UA has a good airfare sale to LAX within the next few months!!! for now the Price is not right!


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CATMAN

MileCrazy

cm:

try going through sfo first. i'm not sure what you call a "good fare", but this itinerary gets you there and back for about $400...

UA 73 03NOV EWR 1100A SFO 0201P 757 0
UA2043 03NOV SFO 0245P LAX 0403P 733 0
UA 960 10NOV LAX 1125A SFO 1247P 733 0
UA 74 10NOV SFO 0130P EWR 0945P 762 0
Price Per Person 436.05 USD

p.s. you're right about united connection. it won't give you this fare even through the "super shop" feature. you need to build the itinerary first for it to display this amount (quirky was an appropriate adjective).

[This message has been edited by MileCrazy (edited 03-16-99).]

Catman

Thanks Mile Crazy (and everyone else who offered me suggestions.) This is what I consider reasonable.

I know that we really should not talk about fares here.

AND DON'T THINK I'M CHEAP! I just feel if i'm going to book for something 8 months in advance that I should get some reasonable fare (plus I'm doing the saturday layover thing.)



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CATMAN

PremEx

Here's a tip and a flaw in the United Connection on the Web site. Once you have fared a flight and you decide to fare another for whatever reason, and you hit the "back" key on your browser, before you enter your new dates/times, but sure to hit the "RESET" button at the bottom of the page first! For some reason, if you just enter new times/dates without doing this, it fares the thing out for full fare big $$$$ even though it says "Price Lowest". I think this might have happend to Matt when he was trying to book a special IAD spring E-Fare.

MileKing

A few items of note:

1. If your ticket will cost more than $1000, book on thetrip.com to get 1 mile for every $1 spent. This beats the 1000 miles from UA Connection. Can't use miles on UA, but good on AA, CO, NW, and TWA.

2. I always call UA first to get the best fare, then I book through the web site if I can get the same deal.

3. Recently purchased a 14 day advance ticket 13 days in advance on UA site (it was about 2 AM so I guess UA had not yet updated the fares).

4. UA site is one of the few I could find that allows me to book a departure out of one Washington metro-area airport and return into another. The fare rules permit this, but for some reason I cannot make this work on other sites.

100K

Thanks, MileKing. The 1st tip is pretty useful; guess you can't think of everything; let others think of it for you!

3. 14 day fare in 13 days- I don't think it's becaus UA didn't update the fares; those must be automated. 2 AM for you might still be the previous day for United, depending on where you are.

4. The fare war seems to be on in DC. Fly from BOS to DCA on either US or DL (no Sat. stayover) and you pay like $400. The highest you will pay to fly into IAD is $225.

100K

Thanks, MileKing. The 1st tip is pretty useful; guess you can't think of everything; let others think of it for you!

3. 14 day fare in 13 days- I don't think it's becaus UA didn't update the fares; those must be automated. 2 AM for you might still be the previous day for United, depending on where you are.

4. The fare war seems to be on at Dulles between US & UA. Fly from BOS to DCA on either US or DL (no Sat. stayover) and you pay like $400. The highest you will pay to fly into IAD is $225.

kokonutz

PREMEX: Maybe, but I don't think so. While I did try a single destination with several departure/returns (without hitting the reset button -- that I didn't even know existed unitl now), each new destination search was part of a new Explorer session (I had closed then reopened the browser). So at the very least, the first intinerary I checked should have been the lowest. And I was under the special e-fare tab the entire time. And that still doesn't explain why about 50% of the flights I checked has NO availability at all under the special fare tab.

As Fish would say, "Bygones!"

kyklin

CATMAN: I think it is definitely OK to include fare in our discussion. After all, the fare one pays ends up as miles on the credit card, too!