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US Airlines Are Quietly Hitting Solo and Business Travelers With Higher Fares (thriftytraveler.com) 54

Posted by msmash from the PSA dept.
The three largest U.S. airlines are charging solo travelers higher fares than passengers booking for two or more people on select domestic routes, a pricing strategy analysts believe targets business travelers, according to fare analysis by travel publication Thrifty Traveler.

American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines implement the practice by opening different fare categories based on passenger count. United charges $269 for a solo traveler flying from Chicago O'Hare to Peoria, while two passengers pay $181 each for identical seats. American's Charlotte-to-Fort Myers route costs solo travelers $422 versus $266 per person for pairs.

The airlines appear to be "segmenting" customers by charging business travelers paying with corporate cards more while offering better deals to families booking together. Solo travelers are more likely to be business flyers using employer funds and "less likely to care about paying another $80 or more," according to the analysis.

US Airlines Are Quietly Hitting Solo and Business Travelers With Higher Fares More | Reply

US Airlines Are Quietly Hitting Solo and Business Travelers With Higher Fares

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  • This is a brilliant way to increase revenue.

    Volume discounting. Makes perfect sense. I'm surprised it took them so long.

  • This isn't news... (Score:3)

    by SonicSpike ( 242293 ) on Friday May 30, 2025 @12:30PM (#65416775) Journal

    Airlines have been charging different customers different prices based on ability to pay for decades. Leisure pax book in advance and biz pax book last minute. Then there is class and buckets.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by registrations_suck ( 1075251 )

      Yes, fare categories have been around for a long time.

      However, TFA isn't about fare categories in general. It's about fare categories based on the number of people on a booking, which IS relatively new.

      • So... what keeps you from booking two tickets to get the better price and then cancelling one within 24 hours (during the period where even non-refundable tickets are refundable)?

        • The same thing that keeps them from only refunding the difference between a 2 seat booking and a 1 seat booking, rather than half of your money.

    • Re:This isn't news... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by DesScorp ( 410532 ) on Friday May 30, 2025 @12:52PM (#65416865) Journal

      Airlines have been charging different customers different prices based on ability to pay for decades. Leisure pax book in advance and biz pax book last minute. Then there is class and buckets.

      I used to work in the air travel sector. Airlines started nickel and diming fliers after 9/11, accelerated these practices during the financial crash of 08', and they've never looked back since. These "trends" are over 20 years old.

      • You should instead move into the finance or economics sector. There you discover things like "inflation" and realise that the process of nickel and diming customers for every thing that is an addon has made airfares lower to the customer than at any point they have ever been in history.

        Up until COVID you could often find flights cheaper than the cost of simply getting to and from the airport. LITERALLY - not that figurative use of the word literally but the literal use of the world literally - flying 100s o

    • uh yeah it is? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      This is literally discriminating based on the size of one's family. If you are a single person, unlike in the past, it does not matter how far you book in advance you will pay more than someone with a wife. Imagine going to a restaurant and seeing different prices for single people and couples. It would be insane. At least with a restaurant, single people cost the restaurant more (taking up a whole table) though they usually leave sooner so it's not that much of a difference.

    • Re:This isn't news... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by MDMurphy ( 208495 ) on Friday May 30, 2025 @01:05PM (#65416901)
      Once upon a time, the differentiation was a Saturday night overstay. Prices could be half if you departed on Saturday vs. Sunday. Some cheap companies forced employees stay longer to get the deal. I did it when on work travel and used a good portion of the savings on some very nice dinners.
    • What is the amount of money a slick (not early) neat (one carry on) prepared bussiness traveler (all the accessories already purchased) spends at the airport compared to a family of 6 who shows up 5 hours early. As an airline all the 90lb 12 year old girls with 90 lbs. of luggage surcharge is ideal. The airlines know as does every travel agent ever, Solo/Single/Manager class passengers are more likely to cancel or modify their itenary at the last moment, this isnt targeted at a demographic, just the ch

  • Airfares, package tours, taxes, if you're single or traveling alone, you always pay more. It doesn't cost the venue any more to service you than it does a couple, but shafting people is the name of the game.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by davidwr ( 791652 )

      It doesn't cost the venue any more to service you than it does a couple.

      It does for sleeping accommodations. It's perfectly reasonable for a hotel to charge $200 for a single-occupancy room and only $110/person for a double-occupancy room.

      Ditto things like a restaurant table where the restaurant doesn't have single-person or "meet a stranger-table" seating arrangements: Part of the cost is for the entire table, no matter how many people are involved.

      Ditto for taxis or car-services: Part of the cost is shared by everyone in the car at a given time, the more people, the more t

    • Any VCs in the audience? Someone should launch a new matchmaking service, FlightWife.com

      Weekend getaways where they pair you for transfers to airports, flights, hotel stays and restaurant bookings to maximize the couples discounts.

  • Airlines up-charge people travelling together via the seat selection fee (so they can sit together). People travelling alone are less likely to pay extra to select their seat so the airlines have to find a different way to up-charge. Baggage, food, drinks; everything is an up-charge now. Can't wait for them to start charging to use the goddamn washroom.

    • Can't wait for them to start charging to use the goddamn washroom.

      Gérard Depardieu gave them a very convincing argument not to ever try charging for that.

    • Can't wait for them to start charging to use the goddamn washroom.

      Hi. I'm Mike Lindell with a special travel season offer! I'm announcing the new MySani-Shit especially for airlines! Just strap MySani-Shit to your ass, and if you have to relieve yourself mid-flight you can just push the button and your bare ass is exposed to the MySani-Shit's custom-designed interior! AMAZING! Think about how much you will save in airline lavatory fees! Call now and we'll throw a second MySani-Shit in absolutely free; just pay shipping and handling. MySani-Shit: Revolutionizing air travel

    • The short haul Chicago - Cleavland route is just going to cost more for that single flyer than the family of 6 that is priced next to 6 hours on I-80 in the minivan, (about 60 dollars per passenger) Single flyers are more likely to cause a underutilized plane be added to the schedule during the week. The family is going to most likely avoiding wed flights, where most airlines would rather not be flying 45% loaded aircraft at all, rather have it dwelling at hub.

      Only a bussiness traveler would take a

      • Well, for what it's worth, last week I booked a San Diego to Boise on a Wednesday morning and that was cheaper then most other days to fly out. My return flight is also on a Wednesday for the same reason. Solo traveler.

        I was tempted to drive but the cost of gas and needing a one night stay both coming and going was going to cost about what flying would of cost. Not to mention, wear and tear on the car and 28 hours of driving versus 4.5 hours flying, plus another 4 hours pre-fly waiting (which is torturous).

  • If you book two.... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Kelxin ( 3417093 ) on Friday May 30, 2025 @02:57PM (#65417175)
    Can you cancel and get a refund on one, if you book like a month in advance?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by PPH ( 736903 )

      I imagine they'll treat the two as some sort of package deal. You cancel both and then re-book the one you really wanted as a single. For the single price.

  • No other industry gets shit on for offering quantity discounts. Looing at it another way, they are discounting recreational travelers (who more likely to travel in a group). Maybe the economy ain't so great and they saw a need to attract more vacationers. Or maybe they just charge the business folks more because they can. No outsider can know.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by irving47 ( 73147 )

      There is only so much inconvenience, regulation, and add-ons people can take. Is it really surprising airlines would attract attention?

    • Other industries advertise their quantity discounts and those are normally real discounts since bundling higher quantities together has cheaper per-unit processing/shipping. The airlines are being sneaky about these price chances and there's no inherent discount in multiple people flying together. The backend processing of one person vs multiple people is the same. Now maybe if they were advertising it as a bundled discount for groups, but they're not. This practice isn't being advertised, it's not a pr

  • Curious as to how they identify a corporate card......

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by bunyip ( 17018 )

      Most airline reservation systems require a saved booking (PNR = Passenger Name Record) before they can issue a ticket. So, the booking class and seats are locked in before you can make a payment. Once that's done, they can't really change the price, and you can pick which card you use. So, I would suspect that they aren't trying to identify a corporate card as part of their segmentation strategy.

  • Chicago to Peoria costs alot less on amtrack

  • I can't imagine many business travelers would use their miles/points for actual business trips. I wonder if this new segmentation strategy also applies to those purchases.

  • Time to start taking the family on business trips?

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