Any idea?

[popeyeandolive]

why it costs double to fly one way instead of round trip. Trying to book a one way to Venice. Had this problem before and finally let the cruise line book for me. I know the cruise line buys in bulk but I would rather book my own flights. Does anyone know the reason?

[Globaliser]

Airlines are not in the business merely of selling big numbers of tickets. Rather, they are in the business of maximising their revenue. This means making each passenger pay as much as they are prepared to pay for their ticket, rather than only as little as they can get away with.

 

One way of doing this is to offer discounted only fares for round-trip tickets, and on very restrictive conditions. So if you buy a one-way ticket, you often have to pay a full (and usually flexible) fare. These are typically much more expensive than the restrictive bargain basement fares that leisure travellers usually look for.

 

The reason that airlines do this is because the demand for one-way flights is concentrated in the business end of the market, which is prepared to pay big money for flexible fares. So that's the market to which the one-way fares are aimed. Leisure passengers who aren't prepared to pay these fares will simply have to look for another way to do their travel.

 

There are increasing numbers of routes where this particular market segmentation strategy is no longer applied; the low-fare airlines have developed alternative techniques, now also adopted by many major airlines, for maximising revenue while selling all tickets (even the discounted ones) on a one-way basis.

 

And, as you have discovered, companies that can buy in bulk often get deals that aren't available to the individual who is booking on their own.

[JJPNYC]

One key thing in dealing with airfare is to realize that the rules of rationale pricing don't really apply to airfare, especially when you are dealing with the legacy carriers.

[FlyerTalker]

Oopps, JJPNYC.....you broke a cardinal rule. You used the words "rational" "legacy carrier" and "pricing" in the same sentence. :D

[Globaliser]

The cynicism is all very funny, but in reality many of the most profitable airlines in the world are built on these pricing models.

[FlyerTalker]

The cynicism is all very funny, but in reality many of the most profitable airlines in the world are built on these pricing models.

Agreed....when yield management is well-tuned and running without the interference of corporate ego or super-aggressive competition, it is a true work of art + science.

[JJPNYC]

Oopps, JJPNYC.....you broke a cardinal rule. You used the words "rational" "legacy carrier" and "pricing" in the same sentence. :D

 

I was trying for the triple word-score by using all three in the same sentence. :-)

[StevieG]

This would make sense if it were not for the fact that you can simply buy the round trip ticket but never use the return flight. The pricing on one way tickets overseas simply makes no sense. I am currently booked on a Transatlantic cruise and if I can not find reasonable rates that is simply what I will do. (I am also thinking of doing the return transatlantic cruise to use the return flight ticket)

[Globaliser]

This would make sense if it were not for the fact that you can simply buy the round trip ticket but never use the return flight. The pricing on one way tickets overseas simply makes no sense.

But the market that's prepared to pay for the expensive one-way tickets simply won't buy the return tickets that you're buying - they're too restrictive. So the airline wins both ways: It takes the full unrestricted fare from those who need it, and it takes double money from you for your restricted one-way trip.

[SelectSys]

why it costs double to fly one way instead of round trip.

 

As stated, this is just the pricing strategy of the airline plain and simple designed to maximize the company's revenue. Realize that by searching a bit it sometimes cheaper to book a round trip ticket and just throw away the return. While many airlines are moving away from the "Saturday night stay model" in response to the pricing strategy of the discount airlines it can still work sometimes.