How do airlines price tickets? My question comes from the following example. A round trip ticket on American Airlines’ direct flight from RDU to London Gatwick is more expensive than a round trip ticket on American Airlines from RDU to Rome that goes through London Gatwick. This includes EXACTLY the same airplanes from RDU to London. How is it possible that the flight to Rome, which includes two additional flights, is less expensive?
ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Answer Person went to the American Airlines website and tested your theory–actually was able to “schedule” flights (wishing AP could really take them) one-way and roundtrip, RDU to Gatwick and RDU to Rome via Gatwick. In both cases the shorter flights were cheaper, not more expensive, so you might want to try again, or try another way of booking.
As to your bigger question, how airlines price their tickets, well that has long been a mystery to many. The typical story is that if you take any group of people sitting together on the same flights, going from and to the same places, chances are they all paid different prices for their seats. American didn’t make it any easier in this test case, because you have to go through several stages to get comparative pricing on different scheduling options. Even worse, although there were flights that went to Italy via Gatwick, using American operated by British Airways for the second leg, there WEREN’T ANY going through Gatwick on the return to the Tarheel State!
As if Homeland Security hadn’t made air travel difficult enough! AP has got a headache, and is just going to lie down and watch the Travel Channel.