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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

#501

Post by account42 »

fn-mote wrote: post #383
amrocha wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They make extra money from fools thinking they can beat the system, not from the people that avoid it. If points systems caused losses then nobody would have them. They’re money makers, and that money is coming from someone’s pocket.

> If points systems caused losses then nobody would have them. They’re money makers, and that money is coming from someone’s pocket. It sounds like you believe the losses are coming from the people who _have_ the points? That doesn't seem likely to me. It would be a better analysis to say "it's complicated" - * Business travelers earn personally-owned points on their company spending. In this case, the company might…

> Business travelers earn personally-owned points on their company spending. In this case, the company might be paying higher prices but the individual is being incentivized to continue that because the miles are essentially a kickback.

Yes and tax authorities should fix that loophole.

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#502

Post by account42 »

wapeoifjaweofji wrote: post #420
twoodfin wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Many basic financial assumptions regarding the free market are premised on the fact that you can figure out the lowest price a vendor is willing to charge for a good and compare that with how much you're willing to pay for it. Obfuscating this is bad for consumers.

The whole point of the free market is that you don't have to figure out what it actually costs to provide a good/service in order to determine a fair price because if a price isn't fair then someone else an provide the same good/service for cheaper and win all the customers. In practice of course there is no such thing as a free market but a buyer being able to figure the lowest price a vendor will accept was never part of it.

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#503

Post by account42 »

singleshot_ wrote: post #309
WalterBright wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Airfares were much more expensive when the government regulated them.

You get what you pay for.

This would be better phrased as you don't get what you don't pay for - that's the only part that is guaranteed.

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#504

Post by account42 »

msgodel wrote: post #444
Fernicia wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unsurprisingly airlines imposing a fat tax is not an optimal marketing strategy.

As someone who's not overweight I don't think I would care. What I really wish they'd charge for is overhead luggage. I wish they'd charge so much that no one bothers with it.

Is there any reason or are you just generally a sadist?

Overhead luggage is the only place you can take anything fragile. You have no control over how your checked baggage is handled and anything you have to take with you into the cramped seating space will get squished.

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#505

Post by account42 »

autumnstwilight wrote: post #370
carabiner wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

In most cases the cost of fabric itself is a pretty minor part of the garment price- you're paying for someone to design the clothes, assemble them, ship them, and operate a store that sells them, and those costs are pretty much the same for small and large sizes. Adjusting the price based on the amount of fabric used would probably end up being a dollar or so for the things most people wear on a daily basis. Unusual…

Shipping and even assembly costs should scale with size.

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#507

Post by account42 »

spauldo wrote: post #404
anal_reactor wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Moral argument: it's a sexist strategy. Yet another situation where men pay more and get worse service. Economic argument: fat people are more likely to make use of on-board food service despite high markup, so you want as many of them as possible.

Speaking as a fat person, air travel is horrible and I'll happily drive a couple thousand miles to avoid flying. On a flight to Greenland I spent six hours smashed up between the window and a stranger (constant, sweaty, skin-on-skin contact) because they put three fat guys right next to each other on a full flight. I'd rather have taken a couple months of vacation and ridden the icebreaker in.

> they put three fat guys right next to each other

Much better than subjecting someone who has made better life choices to the consequences of yours.

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#508

Post by davidrupp »

account42 wrote: post #504
msgodel wrote: post #444

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who's not overweight I don't think I would care. What I really wish they'd charge for is overhead luggage. I wish they'd charge so much that no one bothers with it.

Is there any reason or are you just generally a sadist? Overhead luggage is the only place you can take anything fragile. You have no control over how your checked baggage is handled and anything you have to take with you into the cramped seating space will get squished.

One reason that I would value is that it would speed up boarding and deplaning. As you correctly point out, the prevailing overhead luggage system provides a benefit to some travelers, potentially to the detriment of others. It's a tradeoff.

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#509

Post by account42 »

joshstrange wrote: post #442
anal_reactor wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Moral argument: it's a sexist strategy. Yet another situation where men pay more and get worse service. Economic argument: fat people are more likely to make use of on-board food service despite high markup, so you want as many of them as possible.

> Yet another situation where men pay more and get worse service. Is this some kind of satire? In many cases (for a whole slew of things), I feel like men pay less and get better service.

What are those cases? Vanity products where perfectly comparable cheaper options are available?

Re: Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups

#510

Post by account42 »

smeej wrote: post #211
paxys wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any amount of premium is worth not having a random stranger on your itinerary.

You're going to end up sitting next to a stranger anyway if you're flying alone. Nobody says you have to become friends, but I wouldn't mind having in common with my seatmate that we're both the kind of people who don't take the standard option at face value.

If anything, booking together with a stranger would allow you to leave an empty seat between you which is less likely to be filled than if you leave two empty seats next to you.

And the service could even be set up to give you some choice over the stranger (at the expense of less matches) like setting a maximum weight.

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