A few months ago, I was looking to book a flight for my wife and me to go from Sydney to Auckland, New Zealand, while we are in the area for a conference. Being a “very” loyal two million-mile United customer, I went there first to check on flights. I was going on one big trip – into Sydney – then hop to Auckland, then back to the US from Auckland. That was a problem, so I tried just to add a simple leg to Auckland.
I have previously written about some unusual routes by United, but this is a simple 3-hour flight in Economy that they considered a fair price for to be over $3,000. Interestingly, it would be on a codeshare partner, Air New Zealand.
So, like any good price-conscious shopper, I went to Air New Zealand to see what they would charge to fly the same seat on the same airplane, and it was starting at less than 10% of what United wanted. At the 10% rate, I would get a better seat and a meal, unlike what I would get with United.
You would think the systems would flag this type of thing, but I guess if someone were willing to pay, the yield on that route would be amazing. In my case, I booked it with Air New Zealand.
