Quote:
Originally Posted by Speakoutpierre
I tried to book a flight from Las Vegas to Okland for less than $80 with Orbitz, Cheapticket and similar sites. What I wanted was to enjoy that trip (I love to be in airplanes for hours) which had a stop in New York and even skip a night/hotel. The flight was leaving at 10:30 p.m. and ending in Okland around noon.
FOR MANY DAYS, I tried many times to book that advertised flight. Always, it says that it was no longer available for the initial fee but was actually available for over $325.
I contacted Orbitz and similar sites to tell them to stop advertising that trip. They did nothing!
I frequently contacted Bluejet to tell them to stop advertising that trip at around $80.They did nothing!
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I'm not sure what possessed me to read this thread, but I was just in the JetBlue (or as the OP put it, BlueJet) forum and happened to see it. Y'all missed an important fact in the OPs original statement. He was obviously trying to book a trip on JetBlue from Oakland to Las Vegas
via New Yprk JFK.
I went to JetBlue.com and all of their discount fares from OAK to LAS route through LGB (Long Beach) and I suspect that the fare this guy was looking for didn't allow routing through New York as an option.
So I guess my main point for posting on this tired old thread is education. There are many elements to airline fares. Advance purchase and minimun stay are just the tip of the iceberg. Then you have to contend with "limited availability" which in reality means there may be half a dozen or so seats (or less) allocated to that advertised fare on each flight.
Finally there are routing restrictions. If an airline advertises a fare from pI know that Delta and Conoint A to B even though one must make an intermediate stop it doesn't mean the fare is valid to stop at any of that airline's hubs. I know that Continental and Delta often have killer deals from Phoenix to various cities. It does not mean that I can always connect through Newark or Atlanta to maximize the miles on that trip. Often the fare is only good if I connect through Houston or Salt Lake City.
If you try to piece together such a trip on a site like Orbitz or Tracelocity it may initially display that the fare is good using connections in out of the way cities but when it checks the fare rules that the airline publishes it will return a higher price for that itinerary. You noticed that the OP never said he was offered the discount price when trying to book the trip from OAK-JFK-LAS on JetBlue.com. That's why. The airline's own website will not offer connections at the lower price which are outside of it's own fare rules.