UPDATE: Per comment #8, agent was finally able to price out the "correct" (lower) price, building the itin segment-by-segment. Even though fare buckets were showing up the same, UA.com is not pricing correctly right now. Looks like an issue with open-jaws, as that's the only place either of us were finding discrepancies!
So... if you're booking an Asia OJ in the next couple of days, watch the fares on ITA to make sure you're not getting whacked!
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In trying to look at options for my fall travel schedule, I'm trying to book two itineraries in Asia between September and December. I'm running into some VERY weird problems that I can't seem to resolve either online or with an agent, and nobody has any information about any changes. I'm not sure if this is a glitch or some new fare construction rule change that is severely limiting Asia/Pacific ticketing through UA.
Problem 1)
Try an ITA matrix search for SFO->HKG on 14-Nov, returning OKA->SFO on 27-Nov. ITA and most of the OTAs will quote $955 for the itinerary with flights in the 'L' and 'K' buckets.
Do the exact same thing on ua.com (or have Hipmunk send you over), and the price is shown as $1314.40 for the same itinerary, same L/K buckets.
Problem 2)
Try to book an intra-Asia segment on a *A partner like NH or TG. For instance SFO->HKG on 14-Nov, HKG-TPE on 23-Nov, and TPE->SFO on 27-Nov.
Even though there is a direct TG flight from HKG-TPE, and TPE-HKG from the 23rd-27th, for <$250, the inclusion of the HKG-TPE leg makes UA.com quote the itinerary out as $5600 in only Y/B buckets. I called in on this one, and the agent was seeing the same thing through their system.
I've been booking this type of itinerary in Asia for years, and while there have been weird issues in the past, mostly with SQ segments, this is the first time where I'm seeing basically ANY open-jaw or intra-Asia segment resulting in either non-functional itineraries, or UA-reported pricing that is completely out-of-line with ITA.
At the moment, it seems that at least many Asian itineraries in the fall that include non-UA segments, have either severely-restrictive routing limitations, or fares that don't match what Matrix reports.
Anybody else seeing anything similar??
So... if you're booking an Asia OJ in the next couple of days, watch the fares on ITA to make sure you're not getting whacked!
----
In trying to look at options for my fall travel schedule, I'm trying to book two itineraries in Asia between September and December. I'm running into some VERY weird problems that I can't seem to resolve either online or with an agent, and nobody has any information about any changes. I'm not sure if this is a glitch or some new fare construction rule change that is severely limiting Asia/Pacific ticketing through UA.
Problem 1)
Try an ITA matrix search for SFO->HKG on 14-Nov, returning OKA->SFO on 27-Nov. ITA and most of the OTAs will quote $955 for the itinerary with flights in the 'L' and 'K' buckets.
Do the exact same thing on ua.com (or have Hipmunk send you over), and the price is shown as $1314.40 for the same itinerary, same L/K buckets.
Problem 2)
Try to book an intra-Asia segment on a *A partner like NH or TG. For instance SFO->HKG on 14-Nov, HKG-TPE on 23-Nov, and TPE->SFO on 27-Nov.
Even though there is a direct TG flight from HKG-TPE, and TPE-HKG from the 23rd-27th, for <$250, the inclusion of the HKG-TPE leg makes UA.com quote the itinerary out as $5600 in only Y/B buckets. I called in on this one, and the agent was seeing the same thing through their system.
I've been booking this type of itinerary in Asia for years, and while there have been weird issues in the past, mostly with SQ segments, this is the first time where I'm seeing basically ANY open-jaw or intra-Asia segment resulting in either non-functional itineraries, or UA-reported pricing that is completely out-of-line with ITA.
At the moment, it seems that at least many Asian itineraries in the fall that include non-UA segments, have either severely-restrictive routing limitations, or fares that don't match what Matrix reports.
Anybody else seeing anything similar??