Why is it cheaper to book multiple flights?

Question

I'm booking a round trip flight from Laredo to Houston, TX. It's cheaper for me to book extra flight that connects at Houston then continues somewhere else than just to book to Houston. How do they determine fairs for tickets? What happens if you book a flight that connects one place but don't get on the connecting flight?

Answer 1

Assuming that you are flying round trip, there are a couple of potential problems. Let's say, for example, that you buy a roundtrip ticket for Laredo-Houston-Oklahoma City but only want to fly from Laredo to Houston.  

1. You cannot check luggage if you do this. Your bags will be tagged to Oklahoma City. If you tell the airline agent that you're getting off at Houston, they will charge you the higher fare.

2. When you fail to board your return flight out of Oklahoma City, they will cancel the remainder of your itinerary. When you arrive at the airport in Houston, you'll have no flight home. If you try to cancel the Oklahoma City-Houston flight in advance, they can charge you the higher fare.

Your idea works much better for one-way flights where no checked luggage is involved. Once you jump off at the intermediate city, the trip is over.

Fares are determined based on many factors, including a). supply and demand and b). the level of competition. Houston is a hub city for Continental. Fares to hub cities tend to be more expensive because one carrier dominates the market and has most of the nonstop service. Fares tend to be lower when there are multiple carriers competing for business.

Answer 2

Sometimes the airline may be having a special going to that other city instead of just flying to Houston.  The international airport in Houston is headquarters for Continental Airlines and they operate most of the flights out of there.  Therefore it would not be surprising if they charge more to fly out of there.  (Southwest should fly into Houston's Hobby Airport).  

As for ticket prices, it can be determined by supply and demand.  Sometimes if the destination is more of a leisure city, the fares may be lower because tourists are more price sensitive.  If the city is more for business, then sometimes the ticket price is higher because usually companies pay for the airline ticket and companies sometimes count high airfare as a cost of doing business and are more willing to pay the higher airfare.

If you book a flight that connects at one place but don't get on the connecting flight, you should be all right as long as you are not caught.  If you are caught doing this just to avoid paying a higher price ticket, the airline can make you pay the difference.  I live in Cincinnati and we have one of the highest airfares in the country.  Many people drive to Columbus which is 90 minutes away for cheaper tickets only to connect in Cincinnati before they reach their final destination.  People around here know that you cannot just get off in Cincinnati but still have to fly to Columbus (not just to pick-up the car) but because they know they can get in trouble if the airlines start checking why a passenger did not board a flight they paid for.