looking at flights for Thanksgiving for my college son and came across a fare on US that was $75 cheaper buying the refundable ticket than if bought as non-refundable. Never seen that before .... And good in both directions on the day before and the Sunday after the holiday. Seemed to only be good for the non stop flight (1 per day). I almost overlooked it, as I never look at the refundable pricing typically. Reminder that mistakes can take different forms.
Saving with refundable fare
- Thread starter Hoosier
- Start date
Following up, this doesn't seem to be that unusual for US.... And I also learned in the process that Kayak looks at all fares when displaying the cheapest, but may not indicate that the fare is refundable. I guess my question is what corner of revenue management would be pricing refundable cheaper than non-refundable? If this were simply a mistake, US is certainly making a lot of them.
Along those same lines, I've found first cheaper or on a par with coach on US also. Hope you bought that fare!
ctbarron
Level 2 Member
US has always been randomly weird like this. I see it on short haul routes from time to time. Keep in mind that a lot of the "first class" fares are really opt-ups (fare class A, I believe), which is fine unless you wind up in an IRROPS situation. I've never understood the refundable being cheaper situation, other than US not paying attention.
calwatch
Level 2 Member
On the other hand given that it's Thanksgiving season, your standard nonrefundable fares are going to be much higher than the fare two or three weeks prior. So it may just be a situation of the computer jacking up the price because it's seeing more demand, while keeping the refundable fare the same since no one was buying it.