How Budget Airlines Make You Pay More Than The Original Ticket Price

11 May 2022

11 MAY 2022 | Have you ever found a very cheap deal for a flight, but ended up having a final ticket price way higher? Through this article, you will find out the logic behind these 'scams' and how Budget Airlines attract you with gimmicks such as these.

A few days ago, I was booking a flight on a Budget Airline. However, at the checkout, I noticed that the final ticket price was $15 more than the originally shown fare of $60, despite not having any add-ons (food etc). After a while of scouring around, I found out that the extra $15 came from online payment transactions. While booking on other non-budget airlines, I did not face this problem at all.

Here are some interesting methods that budget airlines tend to use:

Pricing with 9s

Budget airlines, especially those in Europe, tend to use pricing that ends with a 9 (e.g $49), tricking us into thinking that the flight is cheaper than it is, since we tend to view $49 closer to $40 than $50 at first glance. It makes most consumers feel that the ticket is 'cheap'

Online Payment Fees

Budget airlines, particularly Jetstar, have online payment fees of up to $10 on top of the ticket prices. It may trick consumers who have planned the flight for their trip due to its cheap price, later for it to be more costly. Payment is only free if done at a exterior machine or in person, if paid using credit cards etc, it adds an extra fee.

Bare-Bones Service

Multiple budget airlines, even several American carriers have stripped down the luxuries of a non-addon flight, making passengers pay extra for basic items such as overhead storage compartment and food. This makes the ticket price seem cheap at first, but extremely costly afterwards.

Overbooking

Airlines also tend to sell more than the amount of seats on the flight, in the event that passengers do not show up. However, if all passengers arrive, the extra passengers will be kicked out of the flight and sent for a later one. Usually, when booking, passengers are not aware of this and may have their plans derailed without prior warning.

Take note of these tricks the next time you book a flight on a budget airline! Always check twice!

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Written by: Sohail Sawlani
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