I've been watching a non-stop flight from IAH to YUL. The only option is Air Canada, but the flights are code shared with United.

Air Canada's economy fares ALL require an extra fee to purchase any seat. The cheapest seat is $50.

United economy ONE WAY fares are mostly comparable to Air Canada's, with the warning that you can't book a seat when booking through United and will have to book and pay extra for seats through Air Canada.

However, if I try to book a round trip on United, the base fare is $82 MORE. Same flights, same caveat about having to pay Air Canada for seats.

So, it's actually cheaper to book two one-way tickets on United than book a round trip.

When I try to book a round trip on Air Canada, the ticket is actually $92 more than the two one-way tickets (and you still have to pay to select seats).

The issue seems to be with Air Canada. They are charging more for each leg of the itinerary when you book round trip.

Just thought I'd mention this as a heads up to anyone thinking of traveling with Air Canada, either booking directly or through United.

All has to do with segmentation. Roundtrips in whatever pricing band that was were sold out but cheap one ways were still available.

Interesting. Was looking at round trips from Denver to LHR tonight and they were much cheaper than one way.

There is no "always" with airfares any longer. Airlines have gotten hyper-specific when it comes to segmenting their airfares, which just about every permutation of restriction or enhancement you can imagine.

Just using the OP as an example, United offers 82 different one-way airfares and 34 different round-trip fares between IAH-YUL.

bthotugigem05 said:

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All has to do with segmentation. Roundtrips in whatever pricing band that was were sold out but cheap one ways were still available.

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What's interesting is, at least for the outbound flight, the plane isn't even 1/3 full (and it's the more expensive of the two legs). You'd think they'd be offering a lower price to get seats sold. But the price hasn't budged in the couple of months I've been watching it.

United may show dozens of flight options, but most of them aren't realistic. This is a route that Air Canada owns. The United flights that aren't Air Canada have ridiculously long travel times, 2 stops, overnight layovers, and changes of airports (think EWR to LGA). I don't understand how airlines can even offer itineraries like that, much less why anyone would ever buy them. But I'm seeing them more and more often. I'm also watching a flight to Bangor, ME and most of those choices are overnight layovers and/or changes of airport. There are very few realistic options.

American's options are similar. Despite having a direct flight to YUL from Dallas, the only options that airline offers are through Florida with crazy long travel times.

Another heads up with United…I'm actually looking at Basic Economy (which corresponds to Air Canada's lowest price). I pretty much never book BE, mainly because on United flights, you are not allowed a full-sized carry on.

Air Canada's cheapest fare doesn't have this restriction, so I can book BE and still bring a full-sized carry on. Since I can't pick a seat through United and have to pay Air Canada anyway, there is no reason to bump up to United Economy, except I think the credit/refund/change policy is different.

TXTransplant said:

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Another heads up with United…I'm actually looking at Basic Economy (which corresponds to Air Canada's lowest price). I pretty much never book BE, mainly because on United flights, you are not allowed a full-sized carry on.

Air Canada's cheapest fare doesn't have this restriction, so I can book BE and still bring a full-sized carry on. Since I can't pick a seat through United and have to pay Air Canada anyway, there is no reason to bump up to United Economy, except I think the credit/refund/change policy is different.

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Correct, essentially no refunds or changes with BE.