Originally Posted by
full of luv
If two airlines are flying from JFK to LHR as ZED Med, their price should be identical to you.
i have no reason to doubt what you are saying, as you are clearly well-versed in the history of this stuff. however, it just isn't true that the prices are identical for things. i do zed fares more often than anything else, and also for my girlfriend and for my mom, and prices are different, not the same. i am not saying they have huge differences. i haven't created some sort of spreadsheet or anything.
but i'll just give you an example. zed fare low for my mom from ord to lax is always cheaper on American than on united. it's not a huge difference, but it is different.
maybe it comes down to taxes and fees or something? i don't know, i haven't looked that closely at it. but going back and forth to Europe last year and 3 years ago, there was also a lot of variety in pricing within categories, and some mediums were more expensive than another high, etc.
again, i don't know the way it all works, i am just giving my experiences.