I'm picking up a new client with corporate headquarters about 14 miles from EWR. Initially, I'll have to travel to NJ every week. In pricing airfare, I notice non stops on Continental out of MCI are consistently around $1,000. Is this typical? I can fly non stop on Midwest into LGA for around $165 which is a no brainer. I realize I'll have to drive/deal with traffic a little longer. The Continental/EWR thing caught me off guard - especially with MCI being such a cheap airport to fly in and out of. I realize EWR is a Continental hub and are the only carrier offering non stops on this route. Is this the reason?

Not sure where you are finding $1000 fares but when I did a quick month long fare search between MCI-EWR starting with JAN1*, non-stops, on www.itasoftware.com, and it consistently came back with $284 R/T all in fares on CO.

*Obviously some JAN dates are little higher as it's getting close but I did MAR, MAY and JUL also, and it was $284 R/T all in.

Here is an example:

http://tinyurl.com/387bc4

Thanks AAFF.

I've tried Continental.com, Expedia, Orbitz, etc. and received the $1k fare. I just tried www.itasoftware.com and am getting fares of $1048. I guess I'm experiencing some sort of computer issue. I'll try to figure it out tomorrow.

If you need 2 nights or less then CO is $1048 R/T. If that's the case then you will need to look at other options.

Yor're correct, that's the problem. I was trying to price out 1 or 2 night stays.

What is Continental's current position on nested or back to back ticketing?

No problem with nested. Back to back, if the computer picked it up, you can have a serious problem.

In back-to-back scenario, if CO miles is not important, one may want to book through DL or NW, and deposite miles with those. Instead of having two or more overlapping itineraries all in your CO/Onepass accounts to the same destination.

I'm actually not familiar with nesting or back to back ticketing. Can someone please enlighten me as to how this would work with my example? Thank you...

If I understand correctly, the difference lies in if/how one uses the second half (return flight) of the puchases tickets. Back to back ticketing involves booking two separate RT tickets to make a single journey, use only the first leg of each one and discarding the ticket for the return leg. Nesting involves purchasing and using two RT tickets to make two trips between the same points, with the outbound leg of the second ticket occurring before the return leg of the second. That sounds a bit confusing so here are examples:
BTB:
I want to make a single trip from X to Y. I buy two RT tickets
Ticket #1 is (a) X to Y (outbound) and (b) Y to X (return)
Ticket #2 is (a) Y to X (outbound) and (b) X to y (return)
I use 1a to get from X to Y and discard 1b, use 2a to get from Y to X and discard 2b.

Nesting:
I will be making multiple trips between X and Y.
Ticket #1 is (a) X to Y (outbound) and (b) Y to X (return)
Ticket #2 is (a) Y to X (outbound) and (b) X to y (return)
I use 1a to go from X to Y, then use 2a to return from Y to X, then use 2b to once again travel from X to Y and then use 1b for my second trip back from Y to X.

If I am incorrect, perhaps others with more knowledge can chime in with info.

Thank you, Seamus. I get the jist of it now.