Airlines are found to be charging single passengers higher fares than groups of two or more people
When buying an airline ticket, you may have tried to find the cheapest possible price by comparing different websites and purchasing times.
Exclusive: US Airlines Are Quietly Hitting Solo & Biz Travelers with Higher Fares
https://thriftytraveler.com/news/airlines/airlines-charging-solo-travelers-higher-fares/
On May 28, 2025, Thrifty Traveler discovered that Delta Airlines was charging higher fares for single passengers than for groups of two or more passengers on some routes. Thrifty Traveler's flight sales analyst team then investigated hundreds of routes and confirmed that similar pricing strategies were being used by three major U.S. airlines, including Delta, American Airlines , and United Airlines .
For example, if you search for a United Airlines flight for one passenger from O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, to Peoria International Airport in Illinois in June, the one-way fare for an economy seat is displayed as $269 (about 38,700 yen), as shown below.
However, if the number of passengers is increased to two or more, the fare per seat is displayed as $181 (about 26,000 yen) even for the same economy seat. It can be seen that the price is actually nearly 33% different, even though it is the same economy seat for one person. In addition, there is also a low-priced seat called 'Basic Economy' that is not even displayed for one passenger, and the price here was $151 (about 21,700 yen).
The existence of basic economy is clearly stated in United Airlines' fare rules, which state that 'at least one adult 15 years of age or older must accompany you in the same compartment for the entire flight.' However, Thrifty Traveler points out that United Airlines changes the fares displayed depending on the type of user, even though there is no such companion rule for regular economy seats.
Similar fare structures were seen on Delta and American Airlines, but whether the fare differs between one person and two or more people is 'a matter of luck.' At the time of writing, this fare structure was mainly seen on domestic one-way tickets, not round-trip tickets or long-distance international flights. It was also not found on other major US airlines such as
Another notable price difference, Thrifty Traveler reported, was an American Airlines flight from Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina to Southwest Florida International Airport in Florida on October 13. For a single passenger, a one-way ticket on this flight in economy class was $422 (about 60,700 yen).
However, when searching for a one-way ticket for two people on the same flight, the price of economy class dropped to just $266 (about 38,300 yen). A basic economy seat is a whopping $231 (about 33,200 yen), and even if you buy two tickets, it will cost $462 (about 66,400 yen), which is only $40 (about 5,800 yen) more than a single economy class seat.
Thrifty Traveler also found that airlines are keeping tabs on what their competitors are up to: Below, a search for a single-passenger flight from Chicago's O'Hare Airport to Kentucky's
When searching for two people, both American Airlines and United Airlines showed a price of $215 for two people, almost the same price as one seat for one person.
Delta, United and American did not respond to Thrifty Traveler's inquiries, but this pricing strategy is seen as one way airlines 'segment' their customers. Airlines always deal with many different types of customers, ranging from 'budget travelers who are conscious of the amount,' 'families enjoying vacations,' 'affluent retirees,' and 'business travelers traveling for work.' The price at which each person clicks the 'purchase' button is different, and it is in the airline's interest to offer a price that suits the customer as much as possible and sell the ticket at the highest price possible.
Of course, there are many different types of single travelers, such as 'a person who rushes home because of a family emergency,' 'a couple who buy their own tickets for friends who live in different places,' or 'a couple who go on a couple's trip but leave a day later than their wife/husband for business purposes.' However, Thrifty Traveler points out that airlines may think that 'single travelers are more likely to be business travelers traveling at their employer's expense, so they are more likely to buy a higher fare.'
This report has also become a hot topic on the social news site Hacker News.
Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups | Hacker News
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44128901
One user pointed out that 'the problem is not that the price varies depending on the number of people, but that users are not notified about the price change.' Another user who lives a nomadic lifestyle commented that when he went to a cafe with friends from different countries and tried to book the same flight together from the same website, they sometimes saw completely different prices for each other.
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