flight price anger

[Rapunzellover]

Pricing tixs for next year, and discovered something angering by accident: Buying one tix cost more per tix than buying 2 or more!!

My prefered flights are pricing at 1956, but if I buy 2 or 3 tixs, the tixs are 1388 a piece!!! Wth???

 

[Lesverts]

Can you provide your information? Departure/Arrival City and airline you are looking at.

 

[Rapunzellover]

SFO to LHR and then CDG to SFO. United Airlines. It's into London and out of Paris. Nonstop both ways.

 

[aggiedog]

We are a family of 8. I've noticed it's usually the opposite. I"ll price out one ticket (as it's easier), but then when I put all 8 of us, the price per ticket gets increased. Drives me crazy.

 

[Grifdog22]

You may find that the ADB travel department can assist and find ways around some of the pricing shenanigans. Not always, but when we went to Peru, they located airfare from DC to Lima cheaper than I could fly from DC to Atlanta. And it was a really nice flight with two free bags each. This year they found a "sale" on Quantas, $999 RT from Dallas to Sydney, and for the return Quantas did not charge for the Brisbane to Sydney leg. And remember, if you book air through ABD, if the trip cancels, they refund the money...

 

[SirDuff]

We are a family of 8. I've noticed it's usually the opposite. I"ll price out one ticket (as it's easier), but then when I put all 8 of us, the price per ticket gets increased. Drives me crazy.

That is common and totally annoying. What is happening is that there only a certain number of seats in each fare bucket (seats in the same class but with different costs). In those situations there are somewhere between 1 and 7 seats. Let's say that the fare buckets are 1, 2, 3 (with 1 being cheapest) and let's say that there are 5 seats in fare bucket 1 and 10 in fare bucket 2. When you look for 8 seats, the system doesn't give you those 5 seats at the fare bucket 1 price and then 3 at the fare bucket 2 price, it gives them all in the cheapest fare bucket that they can all fit into. When buying 8 seats, you may find that this is actually 2 or more fare buckets above the cheapest available.

Depending on the cost difference, it could be worth splitting the reservation into smaller groups. In the example above, it would mean making a reservation for the first 5 people (so they'd get the fare bucket 1 cost) and a second reservation for the last 3 (they'd get fare bucket 2). Average price would be less than everyone paying fare bucket 2.

Note - the fare buckets are actually letters (and not in alpha order). There are websites where you can find availability but you could also just test by dropping one person at a time until it hits the price you initially saw.

Note2 - I've never seen what the OP is describing. I've seen the price of segments (i.e. one-way flights) change when routing is changed or when a round trip is changed to one-way or multi-city but not based on the number of tickets being purchased.

 

[sayhello]

Pricing tixs for next year, and discovered something angering by accident: Buying one tix cost more per tix than buying 2 or more!!

My prefered flights are pricing at 1956, but if I buy 2 or 3 tixs, the tixs are 1388 a piece!!! Wth???

OK, that would totally piss me off, too!

I have to second what @Grifdog22 says. I've had multiple times that ABD was able to find the exact ticket I was looking at for a significant reduction in price. I recently booked my flight to China with them, and they found the exact flight I wanted for over $300 cheaper than I could find it. ABD will totally work with you to get exactly the flight you want. It's not like booking with DCL where you get whatever flight they give you based on what airlines they've booked bulk flights with.

Sayhello

 

[Rapunzellover]

I've already consulted ABD. The pricing for these flights are the same.

United says it's a matter of a multiple seat discount? I'm confused. I haven't ever seen this.

 

[Bobo912]

That is strange. And I would be mad too, especially since the price difference is so significant. I hope you can find something better.

 

[sayhello]

I've already consulted ABD. The pricing for these flights are the same.

United says it's a matter of a multiple seat discount? I'm confused. I haven't ever seen this.

Multiple seat discount???? Oh, that is *so* unfair! I sure hope this isn't a new trend!

Sayhello

 

[tgeorge]

Multiple seat discount from an industry that prides itself on getting as much money from people as humanly possible??!! Completely ludicrous. Good luck Rapunzellover. How incredibly frustrating.

 

[carpenta]

Now you see why airline companies are down the bottom of the garbage heap of hated industries along with used car salesman.

 

[Rapunzellover]

Alright, so when I called United last night, the fellow I talked to didn't seem to know much and when I demanded a transfer, I got disconnected (I don't know if it was intentional or not.)

So, I called back today to talk to United again, and today I was told that it was a glitch, and that 1338 (I posted 1388 yesterday, but it was actually 1338) was the actual price. So, they are apparently gonna fix things and the price for my tix should be 1338, not 1957. The woman I talked to said if it doesn't get fixed to call back and they'll book it for me at the cheaper price.

I'm glad they're going to give me the cheaper price (1338 is very good, imo, and I'm gonna jump on it ASAP). However, I also searched Hotwire too, and all the flights (from United and other airlines) are more money per tix when purchasing one vs. three. So, I'm unclear if this is actually a glitch, or just a shady tactic that they are going to give me an exception on due to my complaining (I threatened to report them to the Better Business Bureau for discriminatory practices). Time will tell what is really happening.

Anyway, solo travelers, please be vigilant. Double check your tix prices with the airline/hotwire/expedia/ABD to make sure you are getting lowest price. And check to see if this discriminatory practice is being applied to you or not. If it is, fight it. Hold your ground. A seat is a seat and you shouldn't pay more because you are by yourself.

 

[tgeorge]

I'm glad that they are going to honor the lower price. I agree, that seems like a great price for a non-stop flight to Heathrow and home from Charles de Gaulle.

Thanks for posting this info. I wouldn't have even thought to look and compare pricing for more than 1 ticket. What made you do that, BTW? Just curious. Sometimes my husband flies with me, but I routinely fly solo, so this is definitely information that will help me to be aware so I can be on the lookout

 

[carpenta]

Glad to hear they will honor the price ( knock on wood). Now you have to fly through Paris and London (double, no triple knock on wood).lol.

 

[Rapunzellover]

Got United to book me at 1338. But they never changed the website and it's now 1957 for 1 or 3 tixs. I don't get this but at least I got a good price.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

My husband and I are both 1Ks on United, so I am very experienced in buying airline tickets, especially for international flights. There is no multiple seat discount on UA for buying 2 or 3 tickets versus 1 ticket, so either the agent the OP spoke with was uninformed or the OP did not understand what he or she was saying. Go ahead and report them to the BBB if you want to waste your time.

 

[Rapunzellover]

Lost in cyberspace- it was the agent who was wrong, and they fixed the issue, apparently. Naturally, there's no multi-seat discount, cause that's discriminatory, which I would have reported them to the BBB, waste of time or not

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Lost in cyberspace- it was the agent who was wrong, and they fixed the issue, apparently. Naturally, there's no multi-seat discount, cause that's discriminatory, which I would have reported them to the BBB, waste of time or not

Good. Still, the BBB would be a waste of time. Here's a good article about where to complain about airlines:

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/...file-a-complaint-against-an-airline/index.htm