Net fare

The wholesale price an airline charges a contracted agency for a ticket, before the agency adds its margin. Net fares are the raw material of the entire private-fare trade: the airline sets the net, the contract forbids publishing it, and the agency prices to the client somewhere between net and published. When a quote lands thousands under the airline’s website, you are seeing the daylight between net and published — not a trick, just a distribution channel you normally cannot reach.