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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

#311

Post by cassianoleal »

ncruces wrote: post #274
yadaeno wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same with points systems. Why am I forced to understand your made up currency and status system to get the full value of my money. There might be some benefits to price discrimination (which is in effect what a point systems achieves) but the collective time wasted dicking around with points isn’t worth it. Make all point systems illegal.

> Why am I forced to understand your made up currency and status system to get the full value of my money. You're not forced. This allows them to make extra money from people who don't bother, and offer discounts to price conscious people. Time is money. Convenience too.

I think you missed the last bit of GP's sentence (even though you quoted it literally on your own):

> to get the full value of my money.

No one is forced to understand the system, but that means leaving some indeterminate amount of money/value in the hands of the predatory airline.

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#312

Post by rabiescow »

The more people they can fill the flight with the more lucrative it is to fly that route, it makes perfect sense. Just like milk prices are more expensive the less you buy, per liter.

Anyone being upset about this is just looking for reasons to be upset and maybe should go outside more and get a hobby.

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#313

Post by dataflow »

ghaff wrote: post #28
omosubi wrote: post #12

I don't have any data, but it wouldn't at all surprise me if single/business travelers are way more likely to cancel or change flights, and this is just pricing that into the ticket cost.

I'm skeptical. Not sure why as a solo traveler I'd be more likely to cancel than a family vacation. If anything, more can go wrong in the case of the latter. Business traveler maybe. Not my money and business stuff happens. (Usually they want you to book non-refundable because it comes out ahead in the end.)

Canceled flight is not canceled trip. For refundable trips at least, solo travelers are more likely to cancel and book another flight. Source: done this myself.

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#314

Post by Spooky23 »

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.

You can pretty easily get a good airline price by following a few best practices. If you are a person who wants the best deal, you grind for it.

It’s no different than clipping coupons or waiting till closing time to get pastries at a discount.

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#316

Post by ghaff »

listenallyall wrote: post #278
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…

There are lots of things airlines could offer, that they don't. They are all obsessed with "loyalty", why not sell travelers multi-packs (6 flights over the next 12 months) or subscription-like plans? Why a 24-hour cancellation period even for flights booked months ahead... they could certainly extend that to allow for "low-risk" booking or even charging a small fee for the right to cancel up to, say, 3 months in adv…

United these days has AFAIK pretty generous cancellation though it's in credit rather than outright refund.

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#317

Post by singleshot_ »

m463 wrote: post #292
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?

You mean mass. Otherwise I would buy seats for my personal helium balloons on either side of me.

Are you at all concerned the airlines will remove the air from the cabin if you try this, just to emphasize that you’re not going to get a refund this way?

Anyway I’ll be across the aisle with hydrogen balloons paying less than you either way. Enjoy your flight!

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#318

Post by burnt-resistor »

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.

Either the DOT or FTC should require that all airlines charge the same price for the same class of service on the same flight. Allowing this to continue is just a normalized, predatory, dishonest, unethical scam under the guise of "capitalism".

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#319

Post by ghaff »

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?

US to Europe open jaw can be weird. I've done somewhat crazy return to origin European city (typically Heathrow) to avoid. And then I've had times when it's been perfectly reasonable.

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#320

Post by histriosum »

m463 wrote: post #292
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?

You mean mass. Otherwise I would buy seats for my personal helium balloons on either side of me.

And I think that you may mean volume.. :-)
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