I Don't Understand Airline Pricing

[rudder]

Originally posted by: MathMan

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: rudder

Originally posted by: NakaNaka
Looking for a flight for my mom. She only needs to go one way. A round trip ticket is $148. A one way ticket is $220. So for less flying she pays $70 more? It doesn't make any sense why they would do it that way. It's no wonder people just get round trip tickets and throw the second half away.

If anyone can explain, I'd love to hear.

Because if she bought the one way ticket, the potential is there for the airline to fly that route with an empty seat. They base everything on how much it costs to move a seat one mile. And empty seat generates zero revenue. So they make it more enticing to purchase the seat on the return trip. The reason it is more expensive is to cover the chance the seat will not get filled.

That would explain why a one way ticket costs nearly as much or the same as a round trip ticket, but not why a one-way ticket costs MORE than a round trip ticket.

Exactly. Not only will they lose money by selling the round trip seat for less than a one-way ticket-- but they have also guaranteed themselves on additional empty seat on the flight back which equals even more lost potential revenue.

It still doesn't make any sense.

Its not supposed to make sense. The airlines want to know they have the seat filled. Once the plane takes off with an empty seat that commodity is gone for them.

If they sell the one way at 1/2 the cost of the roundtrip, that second leg may not get filled. So now they are flying an empty seat around. To discourage this, the one way fare costs more than the round trip. The airlines set the price they need on the round trip. If they get some sucker to pay the one way that is gravy. That makes up for selling a cheaper round trip also. I guess in a way it is also an attempt to keep the person who is traveling leisurely restricted to a certain set of tickets.

The only other thing I can add is that fare structures are extremely complex designed in a way to sell high priced tickets to those who can pay and sell lower fares for leisurely travelers and do it in a way that fills an airplane and still makes money for the airline.

 

[AnyMal]

Originally posted by: dainthomas

Originally posted by: AnyMal

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats

Originally posted by: farmercal
Buy the round trip and don't use the return ticket. No brainer.

yeah, thats the thing to do. If you do it regularly though, and they catch on, they will charge you the difference as it's against the T&Cs

Not only that but she may also be flagged by TSA na dbe subjected to harsher then usual screening. They may go as far as denying her to board.

Why?

Because they consider it suspicious when a person buy a one-way ticket.

 

[axelfox]

Doesn't the fact that airlines always overbook its flight factor into this?

 

[Dunbar]

Originally posted by: axelfox
Doesn't the fact that airlines always overbook its flight factor into this?

No, that really does not have anything to do with the original question. Airlines overbook because people don't show up for flights. Ticket prices would be higher if they didn't.

The other scenario I can think of why one-way is cheaper than round trip is the outbound flight is fairly full but the return trip isn't. So the airline has priced the ticket to try and fill up the return flight. I still think it has more to do with the system being set up for round trip travel though.

 

[BCYL]

Originally posted by: AnyMal

Originally posted by: dainthomas

Originally posted by: AnyMal

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats

Originally posted by: farmercal
Buy the round trip and don't use the return ticket. No brainer.

yeah, thats the thing to do. If you do it regularly though, and they catch on, they will charge you the difference as it's against the T&Cs

Not only that but she may also be flagged by TSA na dbe subjected to harsher then usual screening. They may go as far as denying her to board.

Why?

Because they consider it suspicious when a person buy a one-way ticket.

I don't think buying a one-way ticket automatically flags you... but a one-way ticket + buying the ticket last minute will flag you for sure, and you will be called for additional screening

 

[cyclohexane]

no one said this yet...but maybe it's because they're fvcking studid