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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

#301

Post by jermaustin1 »

listenallyall wrote: post #290
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.

> not many people will buy an extra plane ticket to save 30% off both.

That was kind of the premise of a movie I watched last night where a couples retreat offered a group discount for 4 couples or something.

So I could see it being "Bring your friends for 30% off!" being a cool summer promotion to beach destinations or something.

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#302

Post by [deleted] »

chgs wrote: post #298
prerok wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience as well, never been denied dining. But... maybe different parts of the world have different customs.

I’ve eaten alone in hundreds of places in dozens of countries, not sure where these mythical places are.

[deleted]

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#304

Post by [deleted] »

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?

[deleted]

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#305

Post by rabiescow »

carabiner wrote: post #268
mobilemidget wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally think it's fair if they charge by weight. The post office does it, why not airlines?

What if larger sizes of clothes were priced higher, since they use more material? I wear a small in almost every case so wouldn't affect me, but man it'd be nerve wracking for a lot of Americans.

if you are very tall they charge a lot extra for having tall sizes... what are you talking about??

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#306

Post by twoodfin »

stmw wrote: post #194

Here is why I think these kinds of dynamic pricing practices are bad: it may be perfectly fair and legal, but it forces a non-negligible number of humanity to waste time and/or energy to figure out if it's happening, how to work around it if it is, and just generally waste human potential on something that should be a simple commodity.

Why is anyone forced to reverse engineer the pricing scheme? Simply decide if the ticket is worth the money to you. You typically have other airlines to compare to, other fares on the same airline for different itineraries, and other modes of transit entirely.

Just because some people won’t buy anything that isn’t on a coupon doesn’t mean coupons are bad.

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#307

Post by ceejayoz »

fallingknife wrote: post #273
stmw wrote: post #194

Here is why I think these kinds of dynamic pricing practices are bad: it may be perfectly fair and legal, but it forces a non-negligible number of humanity to waste time and/or energy to figure out if it's happening, how to work around it if it is, and just generally waste human potential on something that should be a simple commodity.

Airline ticket prices are flat since 2000, which is down almost 50% after inflation. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CUUR0000SETG01 . So I say let them keep doing what they're doing.

Is that accounting for things like bag fees and “fuel surcharges” that used to be in the ticket price?

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#308

Post by dataflow »

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?

If you're not seeing them you're probably looking at domestic or nearby routes. Try transatlantic.

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#309

Post by singleshot_ »

WalterBright wrote: post #241
NegativeLatency wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Especially when your industry is so "critical" that it has repeatedly received bailouts from the government.

Airfares were much more expensive when the government regulated them.

You get what you pay for.

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#310

Post by [deleted] »

stmw wrote: post #194

Here is why I think these kinds of dynamic pricing practices are bad: it may be perfectly fair and legal, but it forces a non-negligible number of humanity to waste time and/or energy to figure out if it's happening, how to work around it if it is, and just generally waste human potential on something that should be a simple commodity.

[deleted]
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