by p1necone on 5/29/25, 10:13 PM
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 advertisement of a bulk/family discount at any point during the pricing process, you just see a different price. That's the problem here, not the price difference itself.
by stmw on 5/29/25, 8:43 PM
Here is why I think these kinds of dynamic pricing practices are bad: it may be perfectly fair and legal, but it forces a non-negligible number of humanity to waste time and/or energy to figure out if it's happening, how to work around it if it is, and just generally waste human potential on something that should be a simple commodity.
by paulgb on 5/29/25, 7:14 PM
I think this is fair play, they can charge how they want (within reason) and it’s not too different than other bulk discounts.
But someone should totally make a site for finding strangers to book the same flight with :)
by geverett on 5/29/25, 7:26 PM
Tbh this makes perfect sense. As someone who worked in airline revenue management for 11 years, it always seemed a little odd that the sales tactics people use everywhere else - group discounts, BOGO, etc - weren't being used by airlines (yes, group bookings could often get discounts, but usually for much larger groups).
What's remarkable here is that airlines waited this long to do it. Sad news for me as a usually solo traveler who prizes flexibility, but I understand airlines wanting to prioritize groups and more locked-in fares.
by dbuxton on 5/29/25, 8:19 PM
I find it weird that this is news and not:
- That it's still way cheaper in most instances to book a return (especially where the "trip" straddles a weekend) rather than a one-way fare when travelling long haul - even if you just throw away the return flight.
- That you can sometimes get access to totally different inventory by booking a package including accommodation, even if that accommodation is one night in a shared dormitory in a hostel (which you just don't go to).
At least group discounts have a recognizable economic rationale. But in these examples you are getting a strict superset of the same SKU (OK, maybe the change rules might be a little tighter, but not in a way that's perceptible) for less money.
by decimalenough on 5/29/25, 8:23 PM
Singapore Airlines has been doing (used to do?) do this for ages: "GV2" was a Great Value fare for 2 people, "GV4" for 4.
I also don't find this particularly outrageous. Lots of companies do volume discounts, and traveling as a family gets very expensive very fast.
Finally, the fare bucket system used to price flights usually works the other way to penalize groups. If there's 3 seats left in the cheapest bucket, and you try to book for 4, you don't get 3 cheapest plus 1 more expensive, your entire group gets priced at the more expensive bucket.
by omosubi on 5/29/25, 7:16 PM
I don't have any data, but it wouldn't at all surprise me if single/business travelers are way more likely to cancel or change flights, and this is just pricing that into the ticket cost.
by wallunit on 5/29/25, 7:36 PM
"Penalizing solo travelers" is a hell of a spin on quantity discounts. If this isn't click bait what is?
by ttoinou on 5/29/25, 7:19 PM
Huh if this becomes mainstream there's an opportunity to make a social media website to purchase in groups and make friends for the flights
by proee on 5/29/25, 8:37 PM
This must be a new thing, because I've experienced the opposite. I needed to book 7 tickets, and the price was much higher than a single ticket. So I ended up adjusting the quantity and saw the price increase at around 4 tickets. So I ended up splitting the purchase into two transactions. However, after purchasing the first 4 tickets, the following price for single ticket was now slightly increased - so they were really playing some games or perhaps there was limited availability that was adjusting prices real-time.
by eduction on 5/29/25, 7:12 PM
I would guess this is about middle seats. No one wants them but if you’re part of 2+ party you’re much more likely to take one. The alternative is two aisles side by side but those are tricky to get as the plane fills up.
by Molitor5901 on 5/29/25, 7:44 PM
Airlines are always doing a negative to consumers. Squeezing passengers, gouging, treating them like they're numbers on a spreadsheet - knowing their options are limited - seems modus operand by the airlines.
We need a passenger bill of rights, not just for the airlines, but also how passengers are treated in airports, by security, and concrete cause of action for consumers when airlines misbehave.
by pksebben on 6/2/25, 2:04 PM
This reminds me of the story of Frank Lorenzo, union-busting airline exec who effectively fabricated the story of how airlines were all "struggling" as businesses to force government support of anti-union practices. It's a bit of a tangent, but the talk page on his wikipedia is one of the more fascinating fights between editors and paper doll accounts I've ever seen:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Frank_Lorenzo
by glitchc on 5/29/25, 8:33 PM
I'm not sure if this is driven to incentivize having children, but the more general point of incentivizing children for the good of society is a valid one. A society that stops having kids (or importing them) will cease to be a society before too long.
by darkhorn on 5/29/25, 10:57 PM
What is next? Charge iPhone users more than Android users? Charge users with email address on custom domain more than on free emails? Charge Jews more than Mexicans?
You go to a bakery and he charges more because you wear a suit. You go to Europe, a guy in front of you buys a bread for €1, but same bread is €3 because you are tourist? Then you go to buy a toilet paper and same thing happens again because your ass is worth more?
by ponector on 5/29/25, 9:28 PM
I had a different experience with Ryanair. When you book solo, they show you price with a tooltip: "last 2 tickets for that price!"
If you are going to book for 3 passengers they charge three of you with the next level, more expensive fare.
But so far my favorite is they force you to buy seat if you travel with infant. You cannot select free random seat as their planes have rules to allow infants only on the seat near the window.
by WalterBright on 5/29/25, 9:34 PM
Companies give quantity discounts. Shocking!
by rabiescow on 5/29/25, 11:30 PM
The more people they can fill the flight with the more lucrative it is to fly that route, it makes perfect sense. Just like milk prices are more expensive the less you buy, per liter.
Anyone being upset about this is just looking for reasons to be upset and maybe should go outside more and get a hobby.
by skylerwiernik on 5/29/25, 7:41 PM
I wonder if this could be abused by purchasing 2+ refundable tickets, and then canceling all but 1.
by bfrog on 5/30/25, 11:59 AM
US carriers are the absolute worst trying to squeeze every penny while the service has become worse. Flew through Japan on a Japanese carrier and the difference was insane. Japanese carrier was customer centric at every step.
by ge96 on 5/29/25, 7:42 PM
it's crazy how if you just want a ticket now it could be say $700 but if you wait the same trip can take $150 different providers, I was the former just got something listed on Google Flights with SouthWest but yeah
by obblekk on 5/29/25, 10:16 PM
this might be a good thing if viewed from the opposite perspective: people with kids/elderly parents usually can't afford to pay as much per person as people traveling alone for fun/corporate travel.
by MrToadMan on 5/29/25, 7:34 PM
Seems intuitive: the group passengers are likely to have to cough up another 5-10% more at the time of check-in, in order to sit together, so it all evens out.
by mgraczyk on 5/29/25, 10:12 PM
This is good. Almost all price discrimination is good.
Larger groups are more price sensitive. They should pay less because they have more buying power when they buy ahead.
by legitster on 5/29/25, 8:02 PM
> In this case, the rationale for charging solo travelers more is fairly clear: It's just another way for airlines to continue “segmenting” their customers, charging business travelers paying with a corporate card more while offering a better deal to families on the exact same flight.
I think the explanation is wrong and the author is jumping to conclusions. Airlines have long offered "bulk" discounts. Their goal is to fill as many seats on a flight as possible. What we are seeing here is their group pricing creep into their direct sales.
by black6 on 5/29/25, 9:36 PM
Airlines should grow up and start charging by weight just like carriers do for every good except passengers (flat rate shipping boxes excluded.)
by yarone on 5/29/25, 11:16 PM
Remember Accompany.com and Mercata and other group-buying websites from the 90's dotcom boom? Time for those again?
by fjasdfwa on 5/29/25, 7:38 PM
Curious if any others are priced out of traveling? I haven't seen family in 3 years.
by diebeforei485 on 5/30/25, 1:31 AM
Would this be allowed for international flights under IATA's fare rules?
by desireco42 on 5/29/25, 7:17 PM
I think they because so custom in their pricing that is becoming insane... I wish they are more predictable in how much things cost, it is almost like weather, how much will airfare cost.
by billyp-rva on 5/29/25, 7:15 PM
Cell phone lines only $30/line when you buy six. What, you don't have a family of six? Weird.
by muppetman on 5/29/25, 7:17 PM
I love how the author thinks they've discovered something super secret, when they have in fact just learnt about "Group Discounts".
Author will lose their mind when they buy 10+ of the same thing from AliExpress.
by 28304283409234 on 5/30/25, 9:18 PM
Good.
by notepad0x90 on 5/29/25, 8:34 PM
it truly is unfortunate how society punishes you for being single. Insurance, tax, credit worthiness, even health care.
i wonder how low birthrate societies like Japan or South Korea are like, is it worse to improve birthrates? or is it better because being single isn't an anomaly?
More importantly, the number of single/solo people isn't even low in the US. If i had to ballpark it, at least a quarter of the population is like that. Lots of married people travel solo for business for example. Why aren't some airlines playing capitalism well by offering "business elite" flights where solo travelers get a loyalty discount and there are no children on the flight? Not for all destinations but at least popular ones like to vegas or NYC <-> LAX.
by account42 on 6/2/25, 9:27 AM
Business does volume discounts. News at 11.
by Aurornis on 5/29/25, 7:10 PM
I never would have understood this as a young, single person. Now that I have a family there are several times per year where we price out the cost of a solo ticket for one parent, the price of taking one or two kids, or the cost of all of us going for something. Having a quantity discount would absolutely tip the scales for us for certain trips.
People will look at this as penalizing single travelers and want everyone to have the lowest fare, but that’s not the real alternative. A flat fare would bring solo prices down and group rates up so the blended average is the same.
by encoderer on 5/29/25, 8:39 PM
In other news, gas stations are selling individual cigarettes for $0.50 each
by lordfrito on 5/29/25, 7:11 PM
Apparently the article author hasn't heard about the concept of a "group discount"
by tiffanyh on 5/29/25, 8:13 PM
Is volume-based discounts really that surprising?
by lvl155 on 5/29/25, 8:08 PM
Airlines need to be regulated and treated like public utility which is exactly what they are.