Minnesotans Flying Alone? You Could Pay Double for That Ticket

Sometimes you have situations when you may be flying alone. Usually if something like this happens it's for business, or a family issue, or you may be one of those people who likes to travel by yourself and take in all the adventures of solo travel.  It can sometimes be quite liberating.

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One thing that you don't want to do is pay up to double the price of your ticket simply because you are flying alone.  It's almost like a punishment for not traveling with a partner.

WHAT IS HAPPENING

American Airlines was the first to do this, but Delta and United have also jumped on this bandwagon and are starting to implement the extra charges for solo travelers.

To be clear, it's not on all routes and all airlines.  But the bigger ones seem to be doing this. The extra fare for one traveler could be 70% higher, or more.  It just depends on where you're going and what airline you are booking.

Airlines try to charge more to business travelers than to leisure travelers, and they think that business travelers are much more likely to travel alone on a reservation. Or, at least, they believe that business travelers do not fly together on the same reservation so they can offer the cheapest fares when more than one passenger books together and avoid giving the cheaper fare to a business customer whose employer is paying.

 

BUT MY EMPLOYER IS PAYING

It's a good idea to explore all avenues when you are booking your flights.  You might think (if it's business travel) that it doesn't really matter because your employer is paying. But if you are the employer, don't you still want to get the best deal?

It's worth looking into if you are traveling alone.