American Airlines Charges Solo Travelers More On Up To 1/3rd Of Flights—Booking For Two Can Be Cheaper

American Airlines is charging a solo traveler $496 for a one-way flight from Miami to Charlotte. But put two people on the reservation and the same main cabin ticket drops to $155 per person. Three people can fly for less than the price of one. And when two people travel together, a $100 basic economy fare becomes available that the solo passenger can’t even buy. This isn’t an isolated example. Kyle Potter at Thrifty Traveler compared fares for one passenger and two on 5,000 domestic nonstop one-way flights, 1,000 on each of the five largest U.S. airlines. They found a higher fare for a solo passenger on 33.5% of American Airlines flights in their sample and 10.6% of United Airlines flights. They didn’t find this on any of the 1,000 flights they checked on each of Delta, Alaska Airlines and Southwest Airlines. The average difference on affected flights was more than $90 on American and over $64 on United. They also found the restriction on some roundtrip and short-haul international itineraries as well. Why Airlines Want To Know How Many People Are Traveling I’ve written about this pricing before. It’s a way for airlines to charge different customers different prices for the same seat (price discrimination). A business traveler is more likely to book alone, often with an employer paying for the ticket. A couple or family traveling together is more likely to be paying out of pocket and be price sensitive. The airline can make a cheaper fare available when at least two people travel together, hoping to fill seats with leisure travelers while collecting more from people willing to pay the higher price. It’s using the number of passengers on the reservation as a proxy for the kind of trip you’re taking. That’s a crude proxy. I’ve flown alone to meet my family when we’re coming from different places. Friends going on vacation together may buy their tickets separately. A parent may fly out later to join the rest of the family, or a passenger may be traveling alone for a funeral. Airlines used to separate business and leisure travelers with advance purchase requirements, roundtrip fares and Saturday night stays. Low cost carriers offered cheap fares without those conditions, making it harder for the big airlines to keep charging a premium to business travelers. Some of those restrictions have returned in certain markets, but basic economy has become a principal way to separate travelers: the most price-sensitive customers accept restrictions that many business travelers won’t. Requiring a companion is another way to do it. The lower fare has an accompaniment restriction in the fare rules. American calls its version Multi-Pax Fares, for eligible passengers who book and travel together. Is It A Solo Penalty Or A Family Discount? Passengers are angry because they see someone else paying far less for the same seat on the same flight, and the only way to get that price is to bring another person along. That feels especially unfair when you’re traveling alone because you have to, not because your company is buying the ticket. The fare rule isn’t something most people would know to look for, either. The defense is that this can also be described as a lower price for two passengers traveling together. Scott McCartney made the comparison to a retail discount and suggested calling it a family or couples discount when he and former American Airlines CEO Doug Parker discussed the practice. Parker’s argument was that different prices can help fill a plane while producing enough revenue to operate the flight. The airlines aren’t raising fares per se, they’re just deciding more carefully whom they want to offer the lowest fares to. The idea is to charge each passenger as close as possible to what they’re willing to pay. No more great deals on airfare, but the idea is that if you buy the ticket you valued the travel more than the cost. The airline captures more of the surplus though. When Delta and United initially pulled some of these fares after the practice drew attention last year, the cheap fares disappeared. That didn’t make cheaper for everyone right away at least. Tim Carney has argued for family pricing at places like museums and parks, where charging for every child can make an outing prohibitively expensive. But American’s fare isn’t limited to families or children. Two unrelated adults can qualify, while a parent flying separately to meet their spouse and kids won’t. I don’t think airlines should be barred from offering different prices. But passengers need to know how the price is determined, especially when airline competition is limited. Otherwise, they’ll follow their usual techniques from past (wrong) advice when making bookings. In the Thrifty Traveler sample, the practice was more common on routes where American and United faced no nonstop competitor, and especially common in American’s Charlotte and Philadelphia markets. Search For The Number Of People Actually Traveling When I’m comparing flights for a family trip, people often search for one passenger first, not bothering to adjust the number of passengers in the search box until settling on their flights I want. Now a fare search for one person may miss a lower price available when you’re booking for two or more. Search with the actual number of travelers, and compare the total price. You can also search for one passenger to see how those prices differ. There’s a reason the old advice was sometimes to search for one person first. Suppose there’s only one seat left at $100 and the next fare is $200. A search for two passengers may price both at $200, or $400 total. If you book separately, one passenger might get the $100 seat and the other the $200 seat, for $300 total. But when the $100 fare requires two people on the same reservation, a solo search won’t show it at all. Check both ways, and compare the total for everyone before booking. And what about buying two tickets and then canceling one? I previously suggested that as a possible workaround. American’s published instructions say that when a cancellation leaves only one passenger on a multi-passenger fare, the remaining ticket has to be repriced to an eligible fare. I’d still try splitting the record. Topics on this page