why is a return flight cheaper than a single?

kwyjibo · 5 Feb 2007 at 21:07

this doesnt make any sense. anyone care to enlighten me?

with BA, a flight from london to montreal in May costs something like £364 return, but a single costs £605

i mean, whats the point? you would just get a return ticket and cancel your return flight

and its not just BA, KLM and airfrance also do the same thing except you go from something like £1800 down to £500

scott.holmes · 5 Feb 2007 at 21:10

If they sell a return seat, they have sold 2 seats effectively. However, if they sell only a single they might not sell the return seat, so the possibility is they will be flying back with an empty seat.

Psyk · 5 Feb 2007 at 21:13

It still doesn't really make any sense. Why should it cost more than effectively paying for both seats?

kwyjibo · 5 Feb 2007 at 21:13

still doesnt make sense from a purely profit-making view, unless im missing something about the importance of filling a seat

Beansprout · 5 Feb 2007 at 21:16

kwyjibo said:
still doesnt make sense from a purely profit-making view, unless im missing something about the importance of filling a seat

Filling seat = money

scott.holmes · 5 Feb 2007 at 21:16

Cos they lose money flying the return with 1 empty seat. If someone happens to buy a Single from Montreal they are quids in, but its not very often people buy a single ticket.

If however, you book a return and then dont make the return for whatever reason they then resell your seat and make even more money. Oh to have any airplane company shares

Psyk · 5 Feb 2007 at 21:19

scott.holmes said:
If however, you book a return and then dont make the return for whatever reason they then resell your seat and make even more money. Oh to have any airplane company shares

But surely if you buy a single and they manage to sell the seat on what would be the return journey, they will make even more money, as that seat has effectively been paid for 3 times.

Rotty · 5 Feb 2007 at 21:19

Single tickets are almost always flexible tickets whereas the return will be a restricted fare

scott.holmes · 5 Feb 2007 at 21:24

Psyk said:
But surely if you buy a single and they manage to sell the seat on what would be the return journey, they will make even more money, as that seat has effectively been paid for 3 times.

Theoretically yes, hence why they charge you more for a single. They might not sell the return seat, so have to make money. But if they do mange to sell it on the return, they make more money.

Win Win for them really.

kwyjibo · 5 Feb 2007 at 21:25

yeah but if i only want to go one-way, then i'm only going to go one-way...

i flew to paris recently from edinburgh with a return ticket, but i had the courtesy to phone airfrance to tell them i didnt intend to return (hence i am still on the continent). The alternative was for me to not say anything and deliberately miss my flight, which as an EU citizen, i could have easily done...

is this the kind of behaviour airlines are trying to encourage?

nb the return ticket was also cheaper than the single in this case

kwyjibo · 5 Feb 2007 at 21:28

Rotty said:
Single tickets are almost always flexible tickets whereas the return will be a restricted fare

i suppose this is the most rational answer i've found yet

qwerty · 5 Feb 2007 at 21:29

If you buy a single, it means someone else has to buy a single on the way back for them to fill the seat, otherwise it will be empty. Therefore they charge close to double in order to recoup the money from that empty seat on the way back.

kwyjibo · 5 Feb 2007 at 21:33

qwerty said:
If you buy a single, it means someone else has to buy a single on the way back for them to fill the seat, otherwise it will be empty. Therefore they charge close to double in order to recoup the money from that empty seat on the way back.

okay, so i buy a return ticket which costs about half, and then i dont bother to return (and lets say i also dont bother to inform the airline), how does the airline profit from that?

scott.holmes · 5 Feb 2007 at 21:34

It sells your seat to someone who is on Standby....

kwyjibo · 5 Feb 2007 at 21:40

scott.holmes said:
It sells your seat to someone who is on Standby....

okay i see now, the entire process of cancellation is still a minor inconvenience though...

Psyk · 5 Feb 2007 at 22:16

scott.holmes said:
It sells your seat to someone who is on Standby....

Would they not do that if they bought a single?

ChroniC · 5 Feb 2007 at 22:34

scott.holmes said:
Cos they lose money flying the return with 1 empty seat. If someone happens to buy a Single from Montreal they are quids in, but its not very often people buy a single ticket.

If however, you book a return and then dont make the return for whatever reason they then resell your seat and make even more money. Oh to have any airplane company shares

They dont lose money from flying an empty seat, For them to charge double a return they are effectively charging you 4 times as much as a single should be.
So why charge double a return, why not charge the same for both, if they dont want you to go one way.

AMD643000+H · 5 Feb 2007 at 22:36

Quite a lot of people are listed for flights as standby who are staff, like my dad and my family so we are always standby. 9 times out of 10 get first or business class

jim5000 · 5 Feb 2007 at 22:36

It's basically like anything, buying in bulk gets you a discount.

Psyk · 5 Feb 2007 at 22:42

jim5000 said:
It's basically like anything, buying in bulk gets you a discount.

Yeah but it still doesn't make sense that buying one actually costs more than buying two. I could understand if a return cost 1.5 times as much as a single, that would be a discount, but I still don't get why a single should actually cost more.