How the heck do airlinesdo it?

On my recent trip to Seattle (what a beautiful city), I found the the pricing of direct tickets not to be understandable.The cheapest return flights from Jo'burg were around USD 1000. Those included a stay in London at around USD200 a night.Flight from Jo'Burg to London including a night's stay in London to Washington and then on to Seattle three hours later. The same on the return. Through BA.So, a return flight from Jo'burg to Seattle cost me around USD 1000 (with two nights in a great hotel in between the flights).However, the cost of US air companies and SAA were around USD 1500 for the same flights (direct flights from Jo'burg to Dulles, with a flight on to Seattle and return).It means that return direct flights from Jo'burg to Dulles Airport to Seattle would cost around USD500 extra. Why?It doesn't make any sense. Edited by Pressie, : No reason given.Edited by Pressie, : No reason given.

Thread moved here from the Proposed New Topics forum.

In the next couple days I have to buy tickets for my mother-in-law and her son to go back to South Africa for a visit. She adopted him when she lived there after retiring as a teacher. They now live back in the USA.
Usually tickets run anywhere from $1600 to $2300 round trip. That is Minneapolis, MN to Joburg. The preferred route is MSP to ATL then ATL to JNB. The ATL to JNB leg is 18 hours but beats flying to Europe then down. Delta has the ATL to JNB flight.Airfare makes no sense. My local airport is Duluth , MN. All flights from here connect into MSP. Usually they charge a $150-300 premium to fly the 45 mins from MSP to DLH, but there have been times when I have found the price to be cheaper to fly from DLH than MSP.Last month a friend had to take a quick trip to Florida to pick up a car. He used frequent flyer points. They wanted 25000 points to fly out of MSP, but to fly from DLH thru MSP they only wanted 15000 points.
It makes no freaking sense.Next week we are going to Puerto Rico. Flights from Duluth, on Delta, were $1200. $900 from MSP. I got tickets on Sun Country for $530.
The best way to buy plane tickets is to start early and shop around.
Kayak.com does good comparisons and you can adjust a lot of variables to nail down exactly what you want

I just rounded up tickets for two of my employees to go from West Texas to Moscow, Russia. If these are booked (business class - hooray for big companies!) from here a round trip is around $6000 each. If they are booked as a round trip to Newark, NJ, and another round trip from Newark to Moscow, it's $3500.
I think that should means that you could get paid $2500 to go to Newark and back.....but I doubt that the airlines will agree.

I am often baffled by how connections in Europe are priced. When searching for an exotic trip abroad, you may find a flight Munich to Seoul v. Amsterdam, for example, for a reasonable cost. Being the canny shopper that you are, you decide that you can just plan to arrange a cheap budget flight to Amsterdam, and then book Amsterdam -> Seoul directly. And then you discover that it's 300 Euros more expensive to fly direct from Amsterdam; even though you'd be on the same flight as if you flew Munich via Amsterdam.I don't get it.

In fact, sometimes going from A to C via B is cheaper than going from A to B. So people buy tickets from A to C and get off halfway. There's a word for this, but I've forgotten what it is.

I think the rotation of the earth factors in long distance flights allot.

I've heard that called "hidden city" ticketing.

Thanks for the answers guys. The ticketing just doesn't make any sense at all.Another example, a person I met at the conference in Seattle. He is quite an expert on similar deposits I'm looking at, so he offered to come and have a first hand look.He bought a ticket from Seattle to Jo'burg and back, through the same airlines. He paid double the price I paid for a return ticket from Jo'burg to Seattle. Same route. Same Hotel in London. Just different directions.It just doesn't make any sense.Edited by Pressie, : No reason given.

To fly from Atlanta to Jo'burg or return in one flight is an absolute killer. Those planes are so unbelievably packed. No place to even put your feet down. No sleep is possible. And much more expensive than the alternatives.Edited by Pressie, : No reason given.

That is the one my mother-in-law prefers. That way she does not have to make the connection in Europe. I don't understand her reasoning, because I think it is easier to clear customs at final destination rather than clear customs in Atlanta, then have to deal with luggage again.
I have not taken that one. My wife and I have flown through Amsterdam. Didn't mind it. 8 hours from US to Schipol, 3-5 hour layover in Schipol then 11 hours into JNB.Last time I booked them they had to fly through Paris, because the ATlanta flight was $500/person. I'll start looking today at her options.

Anyone consider the laws of supply and demand?

Like most things in life, it ain't that simple.
One explanation.
Air Fares 101 - Why do fares change all the time? - CheapAirEdited by Theodoric, : No reason given.

Yes, I sure have, that's why I don't understand the pricing system of airlines at all.What airlines basically do is to determine the prices of air tickets according to the country where the journey starts. So, If I buy my tickets in SA; from Jo'burg to Washington return, I would pay around USD 1000. If I bought the ticket from Washington to Jo'burg, return, in the US, those tickets would cost around double (USD 2000).So, fortunate me (paying around USD 500) to get to Washington from Jo'burg will be sitting next to some unfortunate person who paid USD 1000 for the same flight. Just because that person bought the ticket in another country. The fuel used by the aircraft will be the same; the taxes paid in Jo'burg and Washington by the company will be the same; the weight of the luggage will be the same; everything will be the same. Yet prices differ a lot. It doesn't make any sense.Edited by Pressie, : No reason given.

Thanks for that one. Still confusing.