One way street?

[Flying mermaid]

Yes, but is that selecting single cabin or two cabin flights on the domestic tags?

Two cabin to ensure I was getting J all the way in order to do the comparison. I used the exact same flight for the domestic leg in both cbr-Syd and cbr-Syd-nan

 

[Isochronous]

This looks like a fairly clear cut case of misleading and deceptive conduct. I'd suggest making some legal threats in writing (perhaps via the ACA) and you should be able to get some form of compensation.

 

[odysseus]

In the interests of this thread I did some dummy bookings of cb-Syd-nan in J, picking a flight from Canberra that has J available.

So cbr-Syd-nan was $1,282 - sale. Syd-nan $1043 (sale). $239. The difference

Cbr-Syd same flight is $408 for flex and $725 for J.


Cbr-Syd-nan was $1,582 (saver). Syd-Nan was $1,343 (saver). $239 difference again

What about pricing for the same route CBR-SYD-NAN where the CBR-SYD sector is in Y e.g. different time/day (but in the same pricing period)?

 

[Flying mermaid]

What about pricing for the same route CBR-SYD-NAN where the CBR-SYD sector is in Y e.g. different time/day (but in the same pricing period)?

I used exactly the same day, but picked a flight 50 minutes earlier that was a Dash8, so all economy. Sale price didn’t change, although there wasn’t a saver J price for that option. So whether I pick a two cabin flight and get a J seat, or an all economy one price remained at $1282. Interestingly going cbr-Syd for the dash8 I could get it for 130, so if you are going to pick the all economy one, you are better off doing two separate booking and saving some money!

 

[RichardMEL]

This behaviour makes perfect sense per the fare rules.

Remember the pricing is not a combination of two segments, but an overall fare between the two points. If the flight you pick or are on only has Y, then Y is what you get booked into, but if it has J, then great J it is... but the price is the same. You're purchasing CBR-NAN as a fare.

I've seen this in other instances, for example I recently booked a NZ J fare to the US involving a regional sector that has, like CBR, both single class CRJ and two class flights - pricing out exactly the same no matter which sector.

Essentially these tag flights are considered a component of the overall fare, and as long as they fit certain criteria of routing and (sometimes) zonal restrictions (for example, if you wanted to do CBR-ADL-PER-SYD-NAN...) those sectors are more or less "thrown in at a nominal cost.

Now as you say it's a one way street in respect that you had that fare instance where you were booked into Y, but wound up being changed to a two class a/c and they would not put you in J(or credit it) even though, in theory, they should have with no charge but once ticket is issued that's how it is.

I still don't by the line given about flights between CBR-SYD being put as flex Y - it may be in practice due to the large number of Dash8's on the route, but they absolutely should, and will, book into J on a two class service. I will stay confident with that assessment until i see something specifically in writing (ie: fare rules) that specifiy otherwise