I’m considering getting one of those cheap tickets you see which is a direct round trip from MSP to Orlando for $60 including fees (it wasnt the date i wanted but it was cheap). How does that make economic sense for the airline? Sure the plane is making the trip anyway, but how can hauling my 200lbs of man meat 1500miles for $30 each direction not more than offset the fuel?
In: Economics
So there’s another reason here and that’s weight/can balance. As a guy who designs airplanes for a living, even boeing sized airplanes have to met certain excursion margins and minimum weight thresholds to take off and rotate effectively. If the plane is too empty sometimes they can’t even fly given the airport, runway, and loading conditions. For the airlines its better to just fill seats and have a flight than cancel a flight and have to rebook everyone later.
Really overestimating your man meat (very common issue for most men). The 200lbs you add would barely effect fuel consumption of 60 ton air-o-plane.
Most of the cost of the flight is actually flying the plane itself. An empty plane isn’t much cheaper for the airline than a full plane. A few dollars per seat in extra fuel costs.
So if they have an empty seat, any dollar above that excess fuel cost is profit. Even if they break even, there’s a possibility the passenger will buy an overpriced sandwich or something.
Wasn’t there an opposite of this post a few weeks ago? Why do airlines not decrease the price at the last minute?
Remember, the plane is on a schedule. It needs to be at the destination, whether loaded with passengers or not, so that it can carry out the NEXT flight. Cancelling that flight could incur a huge cost to the airline.
EDIT: On re-reading your question, that wasn’t what you were asking. Ignore my comment.
Airline ticket pricing is similar to options pricing. That analogy is too complex for eli5 but that’s my general theory from the few plane tickets I’ve bought.
The airline makes their profit before the plane is full so they can probably afford to take a loss on some seats
Municipalities and other entities subsidize certain routes/ destinations because they have economic impact. East coast flights to Orlando ( Disney) are generally cheaper because of all the sweet tax dollars that will be gained by all that tourism. So, it really depends on where you go and what time of year.
I think they should include baggage in the prices and credit you if you don’t check baggage.
They used to fly with a lot of empty seats. I remember my young siblings and I putting up the armrests in one of several empty middle rows and lying down to nap. This was a flight to Hawaii in 1976.
From a quick search, it looks like the flights you’re talking about are with Frontier. They’re a low cost airline that will nickel and dime you for everything. Most airlines will let you bring a personal item (backpack or purse) and a carry on bag for free. Frontier only gives you the personal item and charges like $120 round trip for a carry on. Could be a good deal if you’re only going for a weekend or something and can manage with just a backpack
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