Why airfare will never be logical for travelers

We publish a free translation of the article Mashable. The original is here

Answer without hesitation: how much is a ticket from Moscow to Sochi?

Anyone who has had to buy air tickets knows that the answer to this seemingly simple question requires a lot of clarification. When do you fly? What time? Only there or back too? Is a transplant possible? Do you need a specific airport? Are you ready to fly to another city nearby? Will there be luggage? And so on and so forth.

“I always took it for granted that the concept of airfare did not make sense,” says photographer and blogger Freya Dawson. - You are simply offered to agree with what is. Today I was going to book a ticket to Senegal, and searched on Skyscanner. It turned out £ 700 for a 24-hour flight. Then I checked at Momondo , and it turned out £ 450 and eight hours. "


“Airlines seem to be taking their prices from the air,” Christopher Elliot, author of How To Be The World's Smartest Traveler blog, echoes her. - “If you try to search for a one-way ticket and round-trip to the same place, then the second option will be much cheaper. "This is absolutely pointless for you and for me, but for airlines there is definitely a point in this."

Recently, a group of researchers accurately determined how often the pricing of airline tickets contradicts common sense.

“We have collected statistics from the 100 busiest European airports,” says one of the researchers, Simeon Meikhanetsoglu. CommandAnalyzed 1.4 million fares on 125 airlines using Google’s ITA service, which provides data on airfares without additional taxes and fees.

The purpose of the study was to confirm or refute the three “air myths”.
1. The shorter the flight, the cheaper it costs.
2. The cost of a round-trip ticket should be cheaper than when buying two separate tickets.
3. The shorter the transplant, the more expensive the ticket.

So, let's look at how things really are with these and other myths and assumptions about airline tickets.

Myth No. 1: The longer the flight, the higher the price.
This is not so for 24.5% of the tariffs.

The radial structure of air transportation is important, and often the flight between the central transport hubs, albeit quite distant from each other, will be cheaper than flying along the "beam" from the center to one of the "dead-end" points.
For example, a flight between two large centers, such as New York and Los Angeles , will often be cheaper than a trip to much closer to New York, but not the “nodal” Nashville .

Between the two large hubs, there are many airlines that operate several flights a day. This increases competition and lowers prices. In the case of less significant nodes, this does not work.

Many travelers are familiar with such a life hack as hidden-city ticketing, when a passenger buys a ticket from point A to point B with a transfer at point B, but doesn’t reach the end of the route when leaving the plane to B. This technique sometimes really works - it can save passengers money in about 25% of cases. However (and this is important) airlines do not welcome this and can cancel future reservations and cancel their status and points in loyalty programs if they convict a passenger of using this tactic.

“In terms of common sense, it would be counterintuitive to pay more if you plan to leave the plane earlier,” Elliot says. “However, this works with the logic of airlines. If there is more demand for flights from A to B than from A to B, then they will set prices higher. ”

For greater confusion, each airport charges a different fee for its services, which can dramatically affect the price of tickets to different cities with the same distance from the passenger.

For example, in New York, La Guardia values ​​its services higher than the other two airports, so the price of a flight will be higher just after it lands on its landing strip.



Myth # 2: Combined flights save money.
In 37% of cases it’s cheaper to buy tickets for each direction separately than with one ticket.

Sometimes round-trip tickets are cheaper than one-way, but this does not always happen.

It also depends on additional services, from baggage fees to food and entertainment on board, which can be avoided by flying back on another flight.

“Some airlines may seem cheap, but when you come across their baggage rates, offers no longer look so profitable,” says Evita Robinson, creator of the Nomadness Travel Tribe website .

In addition to luggage, additional fees may apply for larger legroom, print-out of your boarding pass, seat selection, Wi-Fi and meals.

Myth # 3: Convenience Affects Price.
Demand Affects Price.

In 7.5% of the directions examined, it turned out that an overnight flight at a connecting airport is more expensive than a couple-hour transfer option, that is, the shortest travel time is not necessarily the most expensive.

Travel has different meanings for different people, and airlines are well aware of this.

The tariff is based on dynamic pricing. In essence, this means that the seller sets a different price for different people for the same or similar service. The same principle works when it rains at 2 a.m., and all taxis are busy, and Uber sharply increases the cost coefficient of the trip - the passenger pays because he has no other choice.

Airlines apply this principle to business travelers and those who buy a ticket just before the flight.
Passengers who buy a ticket on the eve of departure often have no choice but to pay at a higher fare. If you really need to be there on time - say, extreme family circumstances - the price is not particularly critical for you.

Business travelers will pay more for two reasons. First, they need to be at a meeting at a specific time in a particular city, and they will pay for it. And secondly, their price does not really matter - the company pays.

Airlines use the advanced algorithms of revenue management systems, the so-called Yield Management Systems, to determine the highest possible price that can be set for the above categories of travelers.

“Revenue management systems allow airlines to determine how much you are willing to pay for a flight, and airlines are guided by this in pricing,” says Elliot. “The price does not depend on distance, logic or any other arguments that seem reasonable to you.”



Myth # 4: Airlines Want to Fill Each Flight With Passengers
Airlines only want to maximize profits.

The cost of the flight is fixed long before boarding the plane. The airline already has an airplane and employees. They know exactly how much they will spend on fuel. This is about the same cost, whether the plane is full or empty. Accordingly, how big the profit will be depends on how much money the airline can get from passengers when selling tickets.

If, by raising the price, the company sells fewer seats, but increases profit, it will increase it.

Myth number 5: You can’t deal with the pricing of airline tickets.
This is not so.

“This is not just a fixed price for the service,” Meikhanetsoglu says. - Everything is much more complicated. My advice is simply to keep abreast of what is happening. "

“It’s impossible to predict the best time to book,” says Dawson. “It is different for each airline, so it’s better to simply track the dynamics for several weeks or a couple of months until the time when you plan to book a ticket.”

She also notes that it’s worthwhile to find out: it is possible that the country where you are going to have a low season, and it makes sense to consider a trip at a time when most tourists refuse it - sometimes it’s literally a rainy season or a hot summer.

“There are ways to trick the system,” says Elliot. - Sometimes airlines do things that look unethical, and it's tempting to answer them with the same coin. But, as my mother said, two things will not be fixed. The best weapon is to let the market regulate prices. Consumers may view prices as dishonest and refuse to pay higher tariffs. If you do not fall for the tricks of the airlines, in the end it will end. ”