Title. Why would it matter to the airline how long you’re waiting between the two flights on a roundtrip, even when you’re scheduling both flights well in advance?
In: Economics
The airlines do a ton of research into how to make the most money in airfares and fees for each flight; it’s not impossible that every single passenger on a flight paid a different price for their ticket.
Business travellers are characterized by being less flexible on travel dates and more flexible on price; pleasure travellers are characterized by being more flexible on dates and less flexible on price. Airlines want to attract both types of passengers to fill their planes, so they have a wide variety of pricing schemes.
The old algorithm was fairly simple, that the best fares required a Saturday night stay over (desirable for pleasure and undesirable for business travelers); these days the pricing has gotten much more sophisticated, and length of stay can be a big factor.
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