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Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

thriftytraveler.com

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Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#281

Post by listenallyall »

mysterypie wrote: post #143
geverett wrote: post #33

Tbh this makes perfect sense. As someone who worked in airline revenue management for 11 years, it always seemed a little odd that the sales tactics people use everywhere else - group discounts, BOGO, etc - weren't being used by airlines (yes, group bookings could often get discounts, but usually for much larger groups). What's remarkable here is that airlines waited this long to do it. Sad news for me as a usually s…

> As someone who worked in airline revenue management, it always seemed odd that the sales tactics people use everywhere else weren't being used by airlines Remember the really old days when air miles were awarded solely by distance flown rather than by dollars paid? This made no business sense. It meant that someone who flew the cheapest tickets could rack up as many points as a last-minute first class business trav…

In the early days you didn't have the internet where people would share every tiny anomaly, allowing thousands of people to exploit them. Even then, you had a few people realize they could do mileage runs, but it was considered additional revenue and the perks of doing so weren't valued nearly as highly as they are today.

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#282

Post by growlNark »

kaikai wrote: post #184
patcon wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(Saying all this with respect for those who value privacy more than me ) Hostels are for this market, no? Share physical infra (bathroom/heating/walls) with other humans (aka strangers) and you get the same family discount. You're not obligated to pay the premium unless you want your own bathroom and own personal space like families tend to want As in: families don't get a discount, they just amortise the cost of pri…

There’s a very big difference between sharing sleeping space with multiple complete strangers and sharing space with family.

Hostels often offer private rooms, to varying degree of privacy. But i've certainly stayed at hostels that offer very comfortable single private rooms with private bathrooms for a third the cost of a local hotel room. Expensive for a hostel, but great value for the privacy.

But if you're traveling with your family, just get hotel rooms. Hostels only came up in the first place in response to a gripe about solo travel.

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#283

Post by anonymars »

Matheus28 wrote: post #249
dbuxton wrote: post #140

I find it weird that this is news and not: - That it's still way cheaper in most instances to book a return (especially where the "trip" straddles a weekend) rather than a one-way fare when travelling long haul - even if you just throw away the return flight. - That you can sometimes get access to totally different inventory by booking a package including accommodation, even if that accommodation is one night in a sh…

Do you have any examples of a one way direct being more expensive than a round trip, with both of them sharing the same outgoing flight?

Try London to Washington, DC and watch your eyes pop

You might be able to find an airline where it doesn't happen, but you will definitely find airlines where it does. Just verified with Delta and British airways and Lufthansa

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#285

Post by anonymars »

proee wrote: post #185

This must be a new thing, because I've experienced the opposite. I needed to book 7 tickets, and the price was much higher than a single ticket. So I ended up adjusting the quantity and saw the price increase at around 4 tickets. So I ended up splitting the purchase into two transactions. However, after purchasing the first 4 tickets, the following price for single ticket was now slightly increased - so they were rea…

I had the same with just two tickets. We ended up booking them separately because it was cheaper. It was a modest difference but still.

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#287

Post by chgs »

tshaddox wrote: post #215
TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference in costs between accommodating one person and two people is pretty minimal. Even things like breakfasts are prepared in bulk. Most single people own and sleep in double beds, so there's no sense in which a double bed is "designed to accomodate" two travellers. The issue is more that discounted single room rates would encourage unofficial double stays, which would lose significant income.

I doubt the difference is minimal. Forget the size of beds, the point is that a hotel with 200 single-person rooms has twice the beds, twice the bathrooms, roughly twice the walls, etc. than a hotel with 100 two-person rooms.

A hotel hosting 100 single people will be roughly the same size and operating costs as a hotel hosting 100 couples, even if the rooms had a 3’ bed rather than a 6’ bed And thus could be 3’ smaller

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#288

Post by _heimdall »

stackskipton wrote: post #248
_heimdall wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Boeing is, for better or worse, pretty critical to our military. I'm not sure why they'd consider any one airline company critical though.

Because most airlines have become monopolies at their respective hubs so their loss would severely inconvenience a ton of people so government is encouraged to prop them up. For example, if Delta went under, Atlanta, Detroit and Salt Lake City would lose a total of 50%+ of their flights. That would be absolutely devastating.

Devastating to individuals sure. I hold a pretty high bar when it comes to something being truly critical enough for the government to bailout, economic concerns never meet that bar for me.

If we allowed markets to become monopolized we have to deal with that when the bill comes due rather than kick the can down the road.

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#289

Post by chgs »

eCa wrote: post #187
tshaddox wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's probably also worth noting that the majority of these hotels and Airbnbs are also designed to accommodate two or more travelers. Thus the complaint isn't really "single-person rooms are priced that same as two-person rooms," but rather "single-person rooms don't exist, which means I have to pay for more space than I need." In this sense it's not really any different than any other product that you wish was sold…

At least here in Europe there are plenty of hotels with solo traveller rooms ( I often book a double for myself (often for the same price or €10 more) for a bigger bed.

The room will be about the same size as a room with a double bed in, so 80% seems a massive difference

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#290

Post by listenallyall »

p1necone wrote: post #269

I feel like people are suspending their reasoning in order to maximally shit on airlines in this thread (because yes, they do have a history of predatory pricing practices). The problem with this isn't the difference in prices - charging less for buying in bulk is a normal thing that's probably been done by merchants since the invention of money. The problem with this is the lack of communication. There's no advertis…

All airline pricing is unadvertised and not communicated. They also sell through lots of independent agencies and channels.

It would be weird to specifically advertise this. Unlike say, buying a second pair of shoes - not many people will buy an extra plane ticket to save 30% off both.

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