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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

#491

Post by 4gotunameagain »

spauldo wrote: post #486
4gotunameagain wrote: post #485

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a regular guy and I have experienced skin on skin contact when someone overweight is next to me on a plane. Why should I have to endure that ?

Ask the airline, they're the ones that choose narrower seats than the manufacturer's recommendations. I assume this was a budget flight or one of the airlines like American Eagle that service smaller airports?

Having wider seats than necessary would mean less passengers per flight, ergo unnecessary ticket price increase.

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#492

Post by spauldo »

4gotunameagain wrote: post #491
spauldo wrote: post #486

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ask the airline, they're the ones that choose narrower seats than the manufacturer's recommendations. I assume this was a budget flight or one of the airlines like American Eagle that service smaller airports?

Having wider seats than necessary would mean less passengers per flight, ergo unnecessary ticket price increase.

Narrowing them further can allow even more people to fit, uncomfortably. The fact that you have any space at all is because larger people have to fit somewhere.

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#493

Post by 4gotunameagain »

spauldo wrote: post #492
4gotunameagain wrote: post #491

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having wider seats than necessary would mean less passengers per flight, ergo unnecessary ticket price increase.

Narrowing them further can allow even more people to fit, uncomfortably. The fact that you have any space at all is because larger people have to fit somewhere.

yeah sure, we should thank them.

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#495

Post by account42 »

arcticbull wrote: post #385
jmward01 wrote: post #381

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only real question here is why hasn't competition driven this 'discount' away? In a perfect market it shouldn't be possible for this to exist, right? I am not a fan of airlines because, among other reasons, it often appears that demand and competition aren't driving price.

> I am not a fan of airlines because, among other reasons, it often appears that demand and competition aren't driving price. First off airlines are an extremely low margin business. AA's net margin is 1.26%, Delta's net margin is 5.91%, United's net margin is 6.43%, Alaska's net margin is 2.86%. These aren't exactly blockbuster SaaS numbers. Demand and competition absolutely drive price reductions - competitive rout…

Net margin does not include executive compensation and other "flexible" expenses so it only measures how profitable the business is to shareholders, not how much cheaper it could be in a free market.

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#496

Post by account42 »

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.

No, but some people might move their flight a day or so if they can save 30% by booking together with someone else.

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#497

Post by account42 »

ListeningPie wrote: post #439
yosito wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Airline ticket prices have been highly individualized for at least a decade. I live a nomadic lifestyle and I'm often traveling with friends from various countries. We can sit next to each other in the same café and search for the same plane tickets on the same website at the same time, and get entirely different price offers. This is one of the reasons that I never buy plane tickets without using incognito mode or s…

I've also heard that depending on what country you're buying from the price changes, but using VPN I've never been able to replicate the results. Pricing based on individuals sounds illegal.

It's definitely the case that a round trip going from A to B to A can have a very different price than a round trip going from B to A to B using the same routes.

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#498

Post by account42 »

sagarkamat wrote: post #484
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…

This is the wrong comparison though. Merchants offer bulk discount to incentivize customers to buy more units of whatever they’re selling. I can’t buy more than one seat on the plane of its just me traveling. I can’t utilize the ‘bulk discount’ if I’m not traveling with anyone

Group discounts are pretty common for all kinds of services, they are pretty comparable to bulk discounts for goods. You might not use two seats on your own but you might bring along a friend.

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#499

Post by account42 »

arp242 wrote: post #335
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…

I once tried to book a flight with the same-day return; the price for the return flight was mad expensive. The same return flight was a few hundred euros cheaper if you booked the initial flight a day earlier. My theory is that most same-day travel is for business, and businesses are far less price-sensitive than consumers and will just pay whatever. I suspect this is what's going on here. Most solo travellers are fo…

> Is that a good/bad/ethical/predatory thing? I don't know. Leaves kind of a bad taste for me though.

It can be an equitable thing as families traveling usually have less income per head than individuals.

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#500

Post by account42 »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #463
valleyer wrote: post #423

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If there is a single enduring truth to at least American airline demand, it’s that most consumers will pick the cheapest ticket. Almost nothing else matters, when it comes time to pay for it, to almost all of the flying public. Perhaps that's because all the U.S. airlines have engaged in such a race to the bottom on quality that there's no other distinguishing factor. I'd happily pay more for a more pleasant experi…

> Perhaps that's because all the U.S. airlines have engaged in such a race to the bottom on quality Nope. The rule is proven by the exception. When carriers and new entrants have tried to disprove it, it’s generally proved true. > I'd happily pay more for a more pleasant experience, but no one offers it Between premium seats and private charter it absolutely exists. Most people can’t or won’t pay it, however, because…

That's because premium seats are ridiculously priced compared to the advantage they offer and compared to the cost to the airline. If you could purchase e.g. 10% additional seat pitch for 10% extra (and even that would be unfair without an additional 10% baggage allowance and so on) then you might have an argument.
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