Nick;

This sounds like our experience also. Using the web, you can sometimes find a great deal for a flight from San Jose to Los Angeles, perhaps $29 on occasion. Most of the time I can only find $395, which flies from San Jose to Phoenix, Arizona, to Los Angeles. Absurd!

Calling the Airlines is a terrible experience. They will charge you more than the stated web price, cannot speak English that can be understood and do not care.

Tom

>Just I minor rant.
>
>I've recently been trying to book a flight to Charlotte (North Carolina) from Gatwick. Using a variety of on line sites to check fares and availability. What a mess of conflicting information I get. Different prices (varying by a huge amount) and availability
> where do these web sites get their base information ? How can you be sure you get the best result in the end ?
>
>To cap it all I tried ringing USAirways directly and was quoted a fare £50.00 dearer than the one I was looking at on their web site as I spoke to the lady. Also I suspect she may have been operating from a call centre because her English was quite poor which really put me off enquiring any further with her.
>
>So there it is, the modern world, I can't find out a definitive price for something or if its even available.
>
>Nick Mason