Some of you know that I recently married a Swedish citizen. She came here to the US on the fiancee visa, we got married, and then we had to wait SIX MONTHS before they approved her to leave the country for travel. Her daughter from a previous relationship lives with the father in Sweden. So this whole time she has been unable to see her daughter b/c the immigration service in our country sucks.
So now she finally got approved so we're looking for some airline tickets to get her to sweden and bring her daughter here for a visit. I tell you, the airline booking systems are a twisted, god-awful mess and I really feel like they give a special screw to Americans. Check this out:
Travelocity- Ohio to Stockholm in September. Price = $900+
Travelocity- Ohio to London in September via basic search: Price $700+
Travelocity- Low Fare deals in my profile, Ohio to Stockholm. Price = $655+, but only if you leave in november (too late).
Travelocity- Low Fare deals in my profile, Ohio to London: Price $355 in september on a saturday flight.
Travelocity- Low Fare deals in my profile, London to Stockholm: Price $110 in september.
Does anyone see anything wrong with this picture? It's over $200 cheaper to go from ohio to london to stockholm than it is to book from ohio to stockholm direct. SAME NUMBER OF STOPS. In addition, the basic search from the home page lists a ticket price that is oftentimes double what the deeper profile search allows.
Ok switch gears, send my wife to look at the foreign site she usually buys her tickets from. Stockholm to ohio direct is running about $500 US. Basic frontpage search, leaving in september.
Yeah... ok, going from there to here round trip is nearly $200 cheaper than going from here to there.
Somewhere, somehow, someone is a real black hearted pricing bastard. I hope all the airlines go out of business and it becomes a government run industry. Cause something isn't right in web-land.
This isn't even going into the pain in my ass that booking the tickets is going to be. I need a round trip for my wife, the return ticket needs to coincide with the round trip for her daughter, the return trip of which needs to coincide with the round trip for her father to come pick her up. Why? Because the USA thinks that it's too much of a security risk to let a 4 yr old girl in on a one-way ticket for a visit. *slaps forehead*