Re:Misrepresentation of Fuel Surcharges in Airline Price Adv...
by ubernostrum on Sunday February 02, 2014 @11:16PM
(#7168792)
Splintering the total cost into fare and various taxes, surcharges, and fees is likely an attempt to make direct price comparisons with competitors more difficult.
Not necessarily.
Remember that for most passengers there is one and only one factor involved in which airline they fly: the advertised fare. The experience of the industry is that every other factor goes out the window. Time of day is not a factor. Length of flight is not a factor. Number of connections is not a factor. The only factor that matters for getting passengers in your planes is having the lowest advertised fare.
This is why things which used to be part of the ticket price are now treated as separate fees. Want to pay by credit card? That's an extra fee. Want to pick seats in advance so you can sit with your companion? Extra fee. Want to check-in at the airport and print your boarding pass there? Extra fee. Check a bag? Extra fee. Carry on a bag (some airlines)? Extra fee. Want a drink or snack? Extra fee.
"Unbundling" all of those gets the advertised fare as low as it can go, and lets you publish a number that represents solely the cost to put your butt in a seat and go from Point A to Point B with nothing else included.
This is also why Southwest, traditionally considered a "low-fare" airline, now gets dinged for having higher fares on a lot of routes. Their published fare still includes many of those things, while other airlines have fully unbundled, so Southwest's prices are now often higher than other airlines, comparing by advertised fare, despite coming out roughly even when factoring in all the additional fees.
Though getting back to your assertion, Southwest also famously refuses to be listed in most travel-aggregation sites, forcing users to explicitly come to Southwest's site and perform a search in which no other airlines' fares are included.
Not necessarily.
Remember that for most passengers there is one and only one factor involved in which airline they fly: the advertised fare. The experience of the industry is that every other factor goes out the window. Time of day is not a factor. Length of flight is not a factor. Number of connections is not a factor. The only factor that matters for getting passengers in your planes is having the lowest advertised fare.
This is why things which used to be part of the ticket price are now treated as separate fees. Want to pay by credit card? That's an extra fee. Want to pick seats in advance so you can sit with your companion? Extra fee. Want to check-in at the airport and print your boarding pass there? Extra fee. Check a bag? Extra fee. Carry on a bag (some airlines)? Extra fee. Want a drink or snack? Extra fee.
"Unbundling" all of those gets the advertised fare as low as it can go, and lets you publish a number that represents solely the cost to put your butt in a seat and go from Point A to Point B with nothing else included.
This is also why Southwest, traditionally considered a "low-fare" airline, now gets dinged for having higher fares on a lot of routes. Their published fare still includes many of those things, while other airlines have fully unbundled, so Southwest's prices are now often higher than other airlines, comparing by advertised fare, despite coming out roughly even when factoring in all the additional fees.
Though getting back to your assertion, Southwest also famously refuses to be listed in most travel-aggregation sites, forcing users to explicitly come to Southwest's site and perform a search in which no other airlines' fares are included.