Why does the price of airfare increase with the more people flying?

[DJ Disney Kid]

I am trying to book a Southwest flight and when I choose just one person to see the cost of the ticket, its $74, then if I add another person its $110, then when I add all 8 of us its $120. Why would this happen? Couldn't I just order one ticket at a time then to get the $74 price? Has anyone had this happen before and if so did you just call Southwest and get them to sell you all your tickets for the cheapest price?

 

[Reddog1134]

Are they all the same flight?

 

[DJ Disney Kid]

Yes, its all the same flight, time and everything.

Southwest
Chicago Midway to Orlando ( May 1st to 8th )

 

[KellyNY]

Because more tickets may not available on the same flight or same category. When I book at jetBlue, it always sais how many seats available for the same price.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

There are a limited # of seats available at a certain price. There is only 1 seat left at the $74 price. If you buy that seat, then search again for 1 seat, you'll find the new price will come up at $110. That's what I'd suggest you do. You'll get one seat at the lower price. Then you'll probably be able to buy a few seats at the $110 price. And your last seats at the $120 price.

 

[puffkin]

There are a limited # of seats available at a certain price. There is only 1 seat left at the $74 price. If you buy that seat, then search again for 1 seat, you'll find the new price will come up at $110. That's what I'd suggest you do. You'll get one seat at the lower price. Then you'll probably be able to buy a few seats at the $110 price. And your last seats at the $120 price.

That is what I would do too

 

[PSUGuy]

Some years ago I was waiting for flights to be posted by USAir from PHL to MCO. When they came out they were $165 RT so I tried to book 5, but could only get 4 at that price, it was $195 for the 5th. Law of supply and demand. The fewer of a given thing there are, the more each is 'worth'.

Bill From PA

 

[MonorailDriver]

I think airlines graduate costs, so that as the plane fills up or the demand increases for a particular flight the cost per seat increases...first seats go for cheap last seats are more expensive...not sure if that's true but it sounds good

 

[tink576]

There are a limited # of seats available at a certain price. There is only 1 seat left at the $74 price. If you buy that seat, then search again for 1 seat, you'll find the new price will come up at $110. That's what I'd suggest you do. You'll get one seat at the lower price. Then you'll probably be able to buy a few seats at the $110 price. And your last seats at the $120 price.

Yup, That's how it works. One advantage to booking everyone separately, even though it's a hassle, when southwest drops their prices (which they often do and there is no charge to change) there will still be only x number of seats open at the newly dropped price. So if all of you were book on one reservation and the price dropped for only 3 seats then you couldn't really use it effectively. But if you are all booked separately you could cancel the 3 most expensive tickets and buy back the 3 newly dropped in price tickets. Hope that's not to confusing

 

[GSDRescuer]

Try Air Tran, but don't forget the charge for checked bags. They MAY be cheaper and you can pick what seats you want.

 

[PSUGuy]

Try Air Tran, but don't forget the charge for checked bags. They MAY be cheaper and you can pick what seats you want.

You can choose your seats for $6 per person per leg.

Bill From PA

 

[PearlySwan]

^^^ I wondered the samething about SW. For our June trip, I booked 3 people and paid the same fare, and then the fourth had a different price.

This past Wednesday I went on SW at the exact time the booking window opened. I figured we'd have a chance at cheaper seats that way. Nope! $127/pp going there and $178/pp coming back. Guess how much our total was for 4 people (after fees/taxes, etc). A little over $1300 And this during the Summer! One would think the fare price would be lower going to FL in the summer months. But nooooo

 

[S.S.Oceanlover]

You can choose your seats for $6 per person per leg.

Bill From PA

I just flew AirTran from Philly to Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale and they only charged me $6 total not per leg.

Bill

 

[dburg30]

Try Air Tran, but don't forget the charge for checked bags. They MAY be cheaper and you can pick what seats you want.

And Airtran is known for changing non-stops to layovers in ATL sometimes. Havent seen people complaining as much lately, but a few months ago that was a pretty big issue.

^^^ I wondered the samething about SW. For our June trip, I booked 3 people and paid the same fare, and then the fourth had a different price.

This past Wednesday I went on SW at the exact time the booking window opened. I figured we'd have a chance at cheaper seats that way. Nope! $127/pp going there and $178/pp coming back. Guess how much our total was for 4 people (after fees/taxes, etc). A little over $1300 And this during the Summer! One would think the fare price would be lower going to FL in the summer months. But nooooo

Summer is the only time a lot of people can go on vacation if they have kids. Or they dont want to pull them from school or the school has a policy about so many days being missed unexcused (and vaca counts as unexcused) so while you would think people wouldnt go during the hot time of year, that's just not true.

 

[Anal Annie]

I just flew AirTran from Philly to Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale and they only charged me $6 total not per leg.

Bill

If you book on Air Tran via kayak.com the $6 fee somehow gets dropped from the final charge!! It SAYS you're being charged the $6 pp but there's a glitch in the system. You get to pick your seats but don't get hit with the charge!! This only works if you book thru kayak.com tho. I always do this with Air Tran!

 

[PSUGuy]

I just flew AirTran from Philly to Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale and they only charged me $6 total not per leg.

Bill

My bad, thanx for the correction, I guess I just assumed it was per leg since AT books each leg separtely.

Bill From PA

 

[loveswdw]

I book all mine individually too. Its a hassle but you don't spend as much. A couple of trips back I had to book 6 tickets. I booked 5 at the cheapest price then when I booked the 6th one, the price jumped $50. But I booked it anyway. Went back on the next morning and the price was back to what I had paid for the first 5, so I re-booked the 6th at the lower price. Ended up with a credit (well, several in fact for that trip because the price dropped again) but used them for the next trip. This is why I LUV SWA.

Though fair warning...when you book your tickets individually, you also have an individual confirmation for each. Thus when you get your boarding pass online, you have to enter each reservation one at a time. So your boarding passes will probably be split up. But we've not had a problem yet with boarding. We all just file behind the person with the last boarding number.

Anybody know of a way to combine all the reservations into one number?