Fliers beware: New airfare rule could lead to costly mistake
ASSOCIATED PRESS
A United Airlines plane, top left, took off from Newark Liberty International Airport, in Newark, N.J. in July 2013. The three largest U.S. airlines have changed the way they price multi-city trips, forcing those who book such itineraries to pay hundreds of extra dollars in airfare.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
A United Airlines plane, top left, took off from Newark Liberty International Airport, in Newark, N.J. in July 2013. The three largest U.S. airlines have changed the way they price multi-city trips, forcing those who book such itineraries to pay hundreds of extra dollars in airfare.
NEW YORK » The three largest U.S. airlines have changed the way they price multi-city trips, forcing those who book such itineraries to pay hundreds of extra dollars in airfare.
Most fliers buy simple roundtrip tickets and won’t be affected. But travelers visiting several cities on one trip, especially those flying for business, are seeing airfares six or seven times the normal price. Many might not know of the new policy or that there is a way to avoid the higher fares.
The simultaneous adoption of new pricing rules by all three carriers has led the Business Travel Coalition to accuse the airlines of illegally coordinating on this “complicated and comprehensive scheme.” The advocacy group asked the Department of Justice to add this to its ongoing investigation of possible airline collusion. The group’s chairman, Kevin Mitchell, said “fliers and will no doubt be blindsided by this new policy and pay dearly when shopping at airline websites.”
To get the best prices, fliers stopping at two or more cities now need to book several individual tickets.
The change came about because American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines are starting to match low-cost carriers like Spirit Airlines on more routes. Some savvy fliers figured out that booking a multi-city ticket instead of one connecting ticket could save them money. Multi-city tickets contain several one-way legs under the same reservation.
For instance, flying American one-way from New Orleans to Los Angeles with a connection in Dallas might cost $289. But breaking those two legs up into a multi-city ticket would cost $79 for the first leg and $94 for the second, for a savings of $116.
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To halt that practice, American, Delta and United stopped allowing individual nonrefundable tickets to be combined. Their websites now only offer fully refundable tickets when combining one-way legs, which are often several times more expensive than the non-refundable tickets most people buy.
American spokesman Joshua Freed said the change was made in mid-March to stop fliers from paying fares lower than the airline had intended for certain markets.
However, the new booking rule was “broader in some cases than we wanted it to be” and the airline has since “made some changes because of customer feedback and are watching it closely.”
United offered a similar explanation and Delta refused to comment.
Brett Snyder, who runs an air travel assistance company called Cranky Concierge, put it differently: “They haven’t found a way to solve it eloquently so they solved it with a sledgehammer.”
“They’re making you overpay,” Snyder added. “Airlines for years have made it clear that when you book a roundtrip it would be cheaper or the same price as a one way. Now they are flipping that, penalizing you and not even telling you.”
Sometimes the differences can be extreme. Take a mid-May trip from Orlando to Detroit, then two days later to New York followed with a flight two days later back to Orlando.
Priced as three separate one-way flights, Delta Air Lines wanted a total of $282.30 for the itinerary. But try to book it as one ticket — as most travelers do — and Delta was charging $2,174.70 for the exact same flights.
The airline’s website automatically offered the more-expensive fully refundable tickets and no other option.
A similar search on American Airlines for a trip from Miami to Chicago to San Francisco and back to Miami yielded similar results. Booked at three one-way trips, American was charging a total of $664.30. But if booked on one ticket, American wanted $1,064.70.
United Airlines was also charging extra for trip from New York to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Chicago and back to New York. Bought as one ticket, it cost $507.70, compared to a total of $308.30 if purchased as three separate tickets.
And if travelers need to modify their trips, they are going to pay even more.
If booked as a traditional multi-city trip, there would be a $200 change fee. But if fliers choose to book three one-way segments instead, that change fee could skyrocket to $600.
13 responses to “Fliers beware: New airfare rule could lead to costly mistake”
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These airlines are making record profits and they still resort to this type of collusion? As a frequent flier I can only hope the DOJ is able to stop this practice.
So weird. If they’re trying to stop people from buying multiple one-way tickets, why are they increasing the price of multi-stop roundtrip tickets?
It gets more and more infuriating. I have written to my Congressmen and Senators about this as well as asking them to support bills regarding seat size and spacing as a safety issue.
Let us know if they bother to respond.
They will respond with a boiler plate answer. Something generic so as to appear they support you, they understand you, and that they are fighting for you. They will end the letter with what an incredible job they have done so far and with your support continue to fight for the people of Hawaii for many years to come. Emphasis on the many years. i.e. continue to vote for me.
I’m waiting for the day that air carriers charge folks by how much they weigh – like Fed ex, UPS and the postal service does on cargo. Now that would be equitable for everyone, no? The oversized fatties would pay more than us skinny folks.
Well, there ought to be a $100 surcharge for boarding with a strong body odor.
True but ever notice that mostly the white folks emit BO. It’s their genes.
At least we’re aware of it now.
infuriating! the public is being high jacked by the airlines. this, when fuel prices are down? this, when baggage and other costs have risen. AND, they want to reduce the size of seats. this is what happens when alternative transportation (on the mainland) is not available; i’m talking about the trains. our current train system is appalling… third country train systems are even better then in the USA and look what countries like china have down with their super trains. we still haven’t fixed damages in the southeast caused by hurricane katrina.
Strongly advise avoiding American, they have an incredible array of extra charge scenarios. Booked with them, confirmed seating, only to be told the day before no seats were assigned, and they needed $200 more to do so. Delta, United, Hawaiian, no problems, ever. Our first, and last trip with American.
If it is too expensive…don’t fly. If you are doing it for business, do it by computer or the phone. We have basically one airline in Hawaii, I said basically, and pay whatever the fare happens to be at any given time. Oddly when you think about it, Hawaiian Airlines for all of the complaints of consumers, could actually charge whatever they wanted but PROBABLY understand that going overboard would just cut out a large chunk of customers without producing revenue…a novel thought really. For businesses, they just pass the costs to their customers and the end of the line consumers see a price hike. The businesses will write off the cost of travel and everybody is happy.
So for flyers like me who do frequent multi-city trips and who always just booked them all on one ticket as opposed to buying individual legs – I’m going to be penalized with higher ticket prices because other travelers found a way to beat the system? Weird at best. The multi-city trips, if booked on one itinerary, should have already been less than booking individual legs BEFORE this change was made. Just because those trips weren’t directly to one city and back, and there’s a stop in between, shouldn’t have cost you more and forced the passengers to book individual legs in the first place. SMH.