Ajanta

I am trying to buy a ticket:

Chicago - London - Delhi // Bombay - Chicago

To consolidate my FF miles, I would like to stay with AA or its
partners.

(1) At both AA and BA sites, as well portals like Kayak, this ticket
prices in the 1400-1500 range at minimum, depending on dates, if it's a
weekend, etc.

(2) If I break the same ticket as

Chicago - London - Chicago (on AA or BA or combination)
London - Delhi // Bombay - London (BA)

I can get the total to come down to 1100-1200 range.

This is most puzzling. I thought you save money by consolidating at one
source? Same flights get cheaper as two separate tickets.

The total is cheaper only if the two tickets are bought from two
different sources.

What gives?

I would have liked buy one ticket, but the savings offered by breaking
it are substantial and attractive.

Graculus

"Ajanta" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:211020060341323762%[email protected]...
    >I am trying to buy a ticket:
    > What gives?
    > I would have liked buy one ticket, but the savings offered by breaking
    > it are substantial and attractive.

Welcome to the Byzantine complex system that is air-fares. UK rail companies
have adopted the same tactics in making journeys involving multiple legs on
different companies' trains similarly complicated such that booking
individual legs can sometimes work out cheaper.

Mrtravel

Ajanta wrote:
    > I am trying to buy a ticket:
    >
    > Chicago - London - Delhi // Bombay - Chicago
    >
    > To consolidate my FF miles, I would like to stay with AA or its
    > partners.
    >
    > (1) At both AA and BA sites, as well portals like Kayak, this ticket
    > prices in the 1400-1500 range at minimum, depending on dates, if it's a
    > weekend, etc.
    >
    > (2) If I break the same ticket as
    >
    > Chicago - London - Chicago (on AA or BA or combination)
    > London - Delhi // Bombay - London (BA)
    >
    > I can get the total to come down to 1100-1200 range.
    >
    > This is most puzzling. I thought you save money by consolidating at one
    > source? Same flights get cheaper as two separate tickets.
    >
    > The total is cheaper only if the two tickets are bought from two
    > different sources.

They can also be cheaper if bought separately from the same source.

    >
    > What gives?

Market forces. Tickets are priced by markets.
Nothing abnormal here.
I have found that tickets to South Africa, The Seychelles, and The
Maldives are often cheaper if priced separately from London.

There are also consolidators in London that could get you an even
cheaper ticket from London to BOM.

    >
    > I would have liked buy one ticket, but the savings offered by breaking
    > it are substantial and attractive.

As long as you understand the risks involved

Ajanta

mrtravel <[email protected]> wrote:

    : There are also consolidators in London that could get you an even
    : cheaper ticket from London to BOM.

Who? I must be able to book online from here though, with cc.

whitely525

Ajanta wrote:
    > I am trying to buy a ticket:
    > Chicago - London - Delhi // Bombay - Chicago
    > To consolidate my FF miles, I would like to stay with AA or its
    > partners.
    > (1) At both AA and BA sites, as well portals like Kayak, this ticket
    > prices in the 1400-1500 range at minimum, depending on dates, if it's a
    > weekend, etc.
    > (2) If I break the same ticket as
    > Chicago - London - Chicago (on AA or BA or combination)
    > London - Delhi // Bombay - London (BA)
    > I can get the total to come down to 1100-1200 range.
    > This is most puzzling. I thought you save money by consolidating at one
    > source? Same flights get cheaper as two separate tickets.
    > The total is cheaper only if the two tickets are bought from two
    > different sources.
    > What gives?
    > I would have liked buy one ticket, but the savings offered by breaking
    > it are substantial and attractive.


I've found separate return tickets cheaper the single multi-segement
ticket. I.e it's almost always cheaper to return home...

It is usually cheaper to buy return ticket from your home destination
than buying return tickets from/to a foreign destination. Like many
things prices can also depend on your nationality (so much for
globalisation...). Some markets are also more regulated with more
silly restrictions.

Ajanta

<[email protected]> wrote:

    : I've found separate return tickets cheaper the single multi-segement
    : ticket. I.e it's almost always cheaper to return home...

Call it limited experience, but I had not encountered this phenomenon.
I usually travel from US to India with a stop in Europe. Whenever I
checked, it was cheaper to book it as US-India round trip with a stop.
This is the first time I am finding it is cheaper if booked as two
round-trips. Of course, I may not have checked every time. That's why
it surprised me, but as your comment suggests it may be quite common.
One more thing to check each time.

Kir�ly

In rec.travel.europe Ajanta <[email protected]> wrote:
    > mrtravel <[email protected]> wrote:
    >
    > : There are also consolidators in London that could get you an even
    > : cheaper ticket from London to BOM.
    >
    > Who? I must be able to book online from here though, with cc.

Booking online is convenient. But, just as with everything else,
convenience has a price, as you have found. As I mentioned in another
friend, you will rarely get the best price for any intercontinental
flight from any website, and this is especially true for multiple stops
like what you are trying to book here.

Spend a little time looking for a travel agent that is experienced with
these kinds of itineraries. The agent should be able to get you the
flights you want on the same ticket, with your baggage checked through,
for much less than the online prices you have found so far.

I always book domestic Canadian flights online, but NEVER international
ones. Specialist travel agents are still the way to go for the best price.
That's something that the airlines don't want anyone to know.

--
K.

Lang may your lum reek.

Ajanta

<[email protected]> wrote:

    : Booking online is convenient. But, just as with everything else,
    : convenience has a price, as you have found. As I mentioned in another
    : friend, you will rarely get the best price for any intercontinental
    : flight from any website, and this is especially true for multiple stops
    : like what you are trying to book here.
    :
    : Spend a little time looking for a travel agent that is experienced with
    : these kinds of itineraries. The agent should be able to get you the
    : flights you want on the same ticket, with your baggage checked through,
    : for much less than the online prices you have found so far.

I have felt the same way and dealt with specialist agents all my life.
However, their ability to offer low price often depends on special
deals with specific airlines. From Chicago to India somebody may have a
deal with Swiss, another one with Alitalia, yet another one with Gulf.

This time I need to something more specific: miles on AA, stop in
London, open jaw in India. I did talk with the agents I know and a few
others too, including Air Brokers that specialize in putting together
unusual itineraries, but they didn't have a great price.

I have no attchment to buying online, but it just so happens that so
far my best price is by buying two tickets online.

Nobody

Ajanta wrote:
    > Who? I must be able to book online from here though, with cc.


Web based "booking" engines are really dumbed down travel agents with
very minimal intelligence for non standard A-B-A trips.

You're trying to make an open jaw Chicago-Delhi Mumbai-Chicago with a
stopover in London.

The first fares that the dumbed down systems will autoprice will high up
in the hiearchy.

If you do you research, you might be able to find a Chicago-London seat
sale as well as London India seat sales and by combining those, come out
with much lower fare than a Chocago-India tickets for which tyere would
rarely be any sales.

Real travel agents not only have access to less dumbed down tools to
give them more information, but also have experience about what t6ype of
ticketing options might provide an option to get lower fares than the
default auto-pricing of an itinerary which doesn't always work anyways.

Ajanta

nobody <[email protected]> wrote:
    : You're trying to make an open jaw Chicago-Delhi Mumbai-Chicago with a
    : stopover in London.
    : ...
    : If you do you research, you might be able to find a Chicago-London seat
    : sale as well as London India seat sales and by combining those, come out
    : with much lower fare than a Chocago-India tickets for which tyere would
    : rarely be any sales.

Actually i did that and that's what I found, the total is cheaper if
split into two tickets. (Interestingly, this does not always work. A
friend is trying to go to Nairobi and there splitting the ticket didn't
help much.)

    : Real travel agents not only have access to less dumbed down tools to
    : give them more information, but also have experience about what tyype of
    : ticketing options might provide an option to get lower fares than the
    : default auto-pricing of an itinerary which doesn't always work anyways.

The ethnic travel agents I know have very good deals if you fit the
straight-jacket profile of a typical US-India trip. They are not
creative enough to help me. If you or anyone knows any travel agencies
you believe would have competence in this situation---i.e., beat what I
can find myself online---please let me know and I'll give them a call.

But, just to get an idea of what you have in mind, who would you go to?
An ethnic agency in the Indian neighborhood, or a mainstream one
downtown?

Nobody

Ajanta wrote:
    > But, just to get an idea of what you have in mind, who would you go to?
    > An ethnic agency in the Indian neighborhood, or a mainstream one
    > downtown?


This depends.


Consider that it might save you even more money to do say ORD-Mumbai-ORD
(with stop in London) and then just buy a one way ticket on a loc cost
carrier between delhi and mumbai. But such would definitely not
autoprice because low cost airlines are not in those CRSs. You need a
travel agent that knows the destination country.

But in doing do, yo stand much greater chances of getting good deal on
either delhi or mumbai and then just to dthe one way add on.

Joseph Coulter

Ajanta <[email protected]> wrote in news:211020060341323762%
[email protected]:

    > I am trying to buy a ticket:
    >
    > Chicago - London - Delhi // Bombay - Chicago
    >
    > To consolidate my FF miles, I would like to stay with AA or its
    > partners.
    >
    > (1) At both AA and BA sites, as well portals like Kayak, this ticket
    > prices in the 1400-1500 range at minimum, depending on dates, if it's
a
    > weekend, etc.
    >
    > (2) If I break the same ticket as
    >
    > Chicago - London - Chicago (on AA or BA or combination)
    > London - Delhi // Bombay - London (BA)
    >
    > I can get the total to come down to 1100-1200 range.
    >
    > This is most puzzling. I thought you save money by consolidating at
one
    > source? Same flights get cheaper as two separate tickets.
    >
    > The total is cheaper only if the two tickets are bought from two
    > different sources.
    >
    > What gives?
    >
    > I would have liked buy one ticket, but the savings offered by breaking
    > it are substantial and attractive.

I think that you are doing the best thing, live travel agents with tihs
kind of knowledge are getting harder and harder to find. There is
undoubtedly better competition on this route from England hence the
cheaper ticket when splitting the route. The only better solution that
I can realistically think of for you is to find a good India
consolidator in London. I don't have the access, this would be a good
time to call in family ties if you have any.

--
Joseph Coulter
Cruises and Vacations
http://www.josephcoulter.com/

Jeremyrh Geo

Graculus wrote:
    > "Ajanta" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > news:211020060341323762%[email protected]...
    > >I am trying to buy a ticket:
    > >
    > > What gives?
    > >
    > > I would have liked buy one ticket, but the savings offered by breaking
    > > it are substantial and attractive.
    > Welcome to the Byzantine complex system that is air-fares. UK rail companies
    > have adopted the same tactics in making journeys involving multiple legs on
    > different companies' trains similarly complicated such that booking
    > individual legs can sometimes work out cheaper.

Err ... ditto. I just bought a round trip ticket from Amsterdam to
Keflavik. Splitting it into 2 tickets, via London, cost me �250 on
expedia.nl. Bought as a single ticket would have been �680.

B;

Roland Perry

In message <[email protected]. com>, at
05:48:13 on Sun, 22 Oct 2006, [email protected] remarked:
    >I just bought a round trip ticket from Amsterdam to
    >Keflavik. Splitting it into 2 tickets, via London, cost me €250 on
    >expedia.nl. Bought as a single ticket would have been €680.

After much research, a friend as just bought through return tickets
UK-Amsterdam-USA at about £100 *less* than the Amsterdam-USA price

This was the best deal on UK-USA (even by trying all the usual ticket
splitting options), with the hop over the north sea therefore priced at
minus £250 (UK-AMS is usually about £150 return).
--
Roland Perry

whitely525

Kir�ly wrote:
    > In rec.travel.europe Ajanta <[email protected]> wrote:
    > > mrtravel <[email protected]> wrote:
    > >
    > > : There are also consolidators in London that could get you an even
    > > : cheaper ticket from London to BOM.
    > >
    > > Who? I must be able to book online from here though, with cc.
    > Booking online is convenient. But, just as with everything else,
    > convenience has a price, as you have found. As I mentioned in another
    > friend, you will rarely get the best price for any intercontinental
    > flight from any website, and this is especially true for multiple stops
    > like what you are trying to book here.
    > Spend a little time looking for a travel agent that is experienced with
    > these kinds of itineraries. The agent should be able to get you the
    > flights you want on the same ticket, with your baggage checked through,
    > for much less than the online prices you have found so far.
    > I always book domestic Canadian flights online, but NEVER international
    > ones. Specialist travel agents are still the way to go for the best price.
    > That's something that the airlines don't want anyone to know.

I have not found this. But I do agree on-line is inflexible where you
simply want to
to choose the exact flights including a stop-over.

A *good* travel agent can juggle schedules and warn you of the problems
you don't know
about as well as price specific flights I need. They are not usually
cheaper but you do have a bit more protection (in case the airline goes
belly-up..!). They can also often hold tickets for a few days....which
maybe one reason why ticket prices are so volatile as agents
hold/cancel them.

It is good that a travel agent has all my details, so less chance of
silly mistakes like a mispelt name on a ticket (some low cost carriers
charge $$ per letter to change the name..). And a travel agent is a
one stop shop.