What else would we talk about on this week’s podcast than one of the biggest stories in travel? The three largest U.S. airlines were quietly charging some solo travelers higher fares …until we caught them in the act! We break down this crazy story and discuss why - and how - it was happening. Plus, we laugh at Southwest’s botched rollout of its new baggage fees, look into some (awesome) rare Etihad partner award space, and Gunnar reveals what he thinks is the second sleaziest thing airlines do in airfare.
What else would we talk about on this week’s podcast than one of the biggest stories in travel? The three largest U.S. airlines were quietly charging some solo travelers higher fares …until we caught them in the act! We break down this crazy story and discuss why - and how - it was happening. Plus, we laugh at Southwest’s botched rollout of its new baggage fees, look into some (awesome) rare Etihad partner award space, and Gunnar reveals what he thinks is the second sleaziest thing airlines do in airfare.
(00:00) - An update on this solo traveler pricing tactic…
(00:50) - Find Something Out (from Gunnar’s house!): How Kyle reported this important story
(04:10) - Something Hot: Some rare Etihad partner award space in First Class and Business
(07:30) - Something Cold: Southwest (unsurprisingly) botches its baggage fees rollout
(12:00) - A word from our sponsor (us, and how Thrifty Traveler Premium can help find the best flight deals for you!)
(14:00) - The Extra Mile: How and why airlines were charging more for solo and business travelers than everyone else
(29:45) - A listener wants to start planning her Sept. 2026 trip now … but should she?
(33:00) - On the Spot: What other sleazy airline tactics does Gunnar hate
Hey, travelers. It's Kyle from the future or the less distant past. I don't know. Anyway, this week's pod is all about a crazy story we reported last week that the nation's three largest airlines had all quietly begun charging some solo travelers significantly higher fares than groups of two or more. And then not twenty four hours after we recorded, something even crazier happened.
The airlines actually listened to consumers. Both Delta and United pulled the fares that push solo travelers into a pricier ticket. As I'm speaking into this microphone, American Airlines is still the only one doing it. This story isn't over yet, and it's changing rapidly. But we wanted you to listen to this slightly out of date episode anyway, in part because Gunnar's about to have his first child, but also because we feel like it's an important conversation.
Rest assured, we'll follow-up on a future pod. Okay. On with the show. Yo. I am Gunnar Olson, and, I was gonna do this podcast alone, but then I found out the airlines so do you say something?
I was admiring your new kitchen that, your wife built. Yes. My my pregnant wife built me a kitchen in this here home that we're in right now, and I am talking about airplanes on a on a podcast. So that's where my priorities lie while my wife built me a kitchen. Outstanding stuff.
Just just on a spectrum of just found out you're pregnant and about to give birth, where are you in this? We are, seconds away. Imminent new father here talking on the podcast, which is why we're at my house today, and not in our usual studio. Alright. To get started today, Kyle, I need to find something out.
So you broke some big news in the travel world last week, namely that the major US airlines are charging solo travelers higher fares than traveling pairs or groups. It's massive news, and we're gonna dig way more into it in our extra mile topic today. But I just wanna find out how did you find this? How did we find this? By being selfish as I often am in trying to book flights.
It was last week, and I was I was looking for some flights. It was actually to they're positioning flights to get to New York for that, big trip to London and Scotland that we talked about on the show last week. And we needed these flights to New York, so I started looking and, you know, I I typically when I first start searching for flights where I set Google flights price alerts, I just search for one passenger regardless of whether I need to book flights for my wife as well just because that that seems like the right thing to do. And apparently, it's not. Because when I, you know, saw a price, it was $206 to fly from Minneapolis to New York.
I went back and I changed it to two passengers, and all of a sudden, it's a hundred and $54. And I'm like, well, what changed here? And I think most people would jump to, oh, well, you know, the airlines cookied your browser, and they know that you wanna buy this flight, and they decided to cut you a deal this time. And I know that's that's not true. Everybody, that is not true.
Gunner knows that's not true. Everybody else should know it. But I literally opened a handful of browser tabs just to try and figure out, and, eventually, it became very clear that by virtue of the fact that I had originally searched for just one ticket, it was charging me more. And every single time I searched for two, it was charging me less. And so then, you know, I and you and the rest of the team started to fan out and figure out just how big this is.
And it turns out while it's not incredibly widespread yet, it's happening at all the major airlines. This is obviously incredibly frustrating news, for a lot of travelers, and, you should be rightfully kind of annoyed by this. But we're gonna dig into it way deeper in our extra mile topic today. We're just gonna talk about, you know, all about this weird flight pricing quirk and what it means for your next trip. Before that, we're gonna do something hot and cold where we talk about some rare Etihad points deals in first class and in business class.
And we're also gonna talk about Southwest's unsurprisingly botched rollout of its new bagless fares. All that and more. Welcome to the Thrifty Traveler podcast. Alright. Let's jump into something hot and something cold.
It's a bit of good travel news, and it's a bit of bad travel news from the last week, and we'll start as always with something hot, Kyle. Etihad award space. Etihad Airlines, the UAE carrier. I thought that this maybe didn't exist for a while because Etihad award space, especially in those premium cabins, just doesn't come up very much, especially meaningful award space. But in the last week, we found first class award space from JFK and flying that apartment suite from Toronto, and we also found some business class space.
What's going on here? Can you tell me a little bit more about these deals? Well, I think we need to to quickly circle back and and say that finding award space is not that difficult if you book with Etihad Miles, which you can transfer from American Express and Capital One. But they charge a lot. And probably more importantly, their cancellation fees are just atrocious on award tickets.
If you decide, like, the next day that you don't want that ticket, you forfeit 25% of your miles. And And if you do it within the last week, you forfeit 75% of them. So it's pretty rough. But Etihad has been part of this broader trend that has really come together over the last two ish years where they're getting much stingier with releasing award space to partner airlines, especially partner airlines where you can book for far, lower rates. So in this case, it had been years in the last time that we had seen any meaningful amounts of, awards based bookable, through American Advantage for 70,000 miles in business class each way or a 15,000 miles from The US to Abu Dhabi in first class.
And so when this came up one after the other within the space of a week and a half, again, it says something. And, you know, we've been talking a lot in the office, not just after this deal, but for the last couple of weeks about, you know, things have been pretty rough in the world of points and miles where things just keep getting harder and more expensive. And for all the tools that are out there, including our own service, things are cost more, finding the awards base is getting more difficult. But within the last, you know, couple of months, it feels like that has started to turn, and that doesn't mean that this is easy now that we're back to 2019 and it's the glory days of points and miles or whatever. It's not what I mean.
But the fact that we saw very widespread, Etihad first class apartment award space bookable through American Advantage for the first time in two years, I think is yet another piece of evidence that it's not easy, but it might be getting easier for the first time in a couple of years. Yeah. Both really, really exciting deals. That business class one from Atlanta with Atlanta is a new route for Etihad, so they're probably, you know, trying to create a little buzz and fill some empty seats there. But that deal was was pretty amazing.
You could get, you know, to The Maldives, to Johannesburg, to Cairo. Our our buddy John, from the Thrift Traveler Premium team booked the deal to The Maldives. So he's gonna make that trip happen flying Etihad, which I know he's extremely, extremely excited about. But that's an awesome deal. Both deals were really great, and, we're excited that, some premium members got to book it.
It's pretty rare to be able to do it without that nasty cancellation escalating grid that you have to understand before you book with Etihad, which we don't recommend. It's just disgusting. So, yes, this was a very, very welcome reprieve. Speaking of disgusting, Southwest rolled out its new fare structure last week. It included their basic economy fares, and they also no longer include free checked bags.
We all knew this was coming. If you thought it was bad that they're charging you for checked bags now, you're really gonna hate how they're charging you. Kyle, what did we learn about how they're collecting baggage fees? Before we get into that, let's take a moment to appreciate that this is the second week in a row where Southwest is, is our something called topic, which means if we do this again next week, Southwest has got a turkey. Yeah.
So, you know, let's get going, Southwest. Screw something else up. There were other things that could have been something cold this week, but Southwest just just grabbed defeat out of the jaws of victory once again and, ended up on our something cold list. But alright. Tell me about what we discovered about how Southwest is collecting baggage fees at the airport.
I I can't believe it. It we we had to reach out to Southwest after you booked a flight and we're like, where's my option to to buy a bag, to add a bag for $35 for the first time in Southwest fifty plus year history. You have to pay for bags now. And there is nowhere to do it online, not just while you're booking, but even go back into your reservation at southwest.com and add a bag to your flight. So we reached out to Southwest, and sure enough, they are not able to charge you for bags online.
It has to happen at the airport. This didn't come out of nowhere. Southwest had had gave us more than two and a half months warning that this was going to happen, that they were going to start charging for bags. So the fact that they weren't able to build the kind of IT infrastructure, pretty basic, common, you know, something that most Americans who fly airlines believe should be, you know, a minimum expectation that you can pay for your bags online. Southwest couldn't do that.
It's it's incredible. It's it's laughable. It's it's unbelievable, and it's honestly just the perfect way for this to turn with Southwest. And this wasn't even the end of it. I mean, there were other things that we caught in this rollout that I think are, while not quite as ridiculous, still pretty problematic.
Yeah. The there are. And before we get to that, just when you go through Southwest checkout, you can see the little upgrade click a one button upgrade to wanna get away plus. They send you that while you're checking out of your whatever fare. And then there's also the, you know, early bird check-in upgrade.
Like it's not like they've never charged ancillary fees before. So they have this system built in somewhere. They just couldn't figure it out. And also just the fact that this whole thing is because these activist investors came into Southwest, and they wanted a short term revenue spike. Well, what better way to get a little extra revenue than charging people online when they're booking?
Now it's, you know, people are booking flights all the way out into January of next year, and they're not gonna see a dollar of that ancillary revenue until they get to the airport in January. It's so, so bizarre and so strange. But you're you're right to point out that we also found out that if you purchased fares before last week, before the changes went into effect, that included the two free check bags. If you go to change those fares now, as soon as you execute the change, you are under and subject to the new fare rules, which also really stinks because I know a lot of people were running to book those last, you know, great glorious wanna get away fares with those two free checked bags. But now if they need to alter their trip at all, they're gonna have to be subject to the new rules.
So the hits just keep coming with Southwest. Yeah. And I think even bigger picture, we did some comparison before and after. You know, before on, May 27, the last day of of fares with free bags, and May 28 when, you know, you start getting charged at the airport weeks or months away for those bags, and nothing in the fare price has changed. You are paying the same amount and getting less.
Now that's not to say that's always going to be the case. I mean, Southwest could and probably will run some big sales to try to combat some of the negative press that they're getting as a result of these changes. And, you know, that might may not hold true forever, but at least at the start, it's very clear that Southwest is not cutting people a better bargain as a result of beginning to charge for bags. Again, you are paying the same amount you were before. You are getting less for it.
Tough break. I would definitely keep an eye out for whatever that big sale is because we know it's coming. They're gonna have to do something to, like you said, try and change the narrative here. We're gonna talk a lot more today about, fares and airfare, but first, we're gonna take a quick break. Alright.
Finding an incredible flight deal is a rush. I know you know the feeling. Booking something for way less than you budget for it or spontaneously booking something that's so cheap that you simply had to, you can do it. You can book like that, but it can feel like a full time job. And lucky for all of you, it is my full time job.
I'm a flight deal analyst for Thrifty Traveler Premium, our flight deal alert service that searches thousands of routes a day for more than 220 US and Canadian airports to find the cheapest flights and the best points and miles deals to fly economy, premium economy, fly flat business class or first class all over the country and all over the world. Kyle, what is in your Thrifty Traveler Premium inbox this week that piqued your interest? Man, you usually do this part so I'm a little scared I'm gonna screw this ad up. We, we talked about those amazing Etihad deals. Those are still sticking out.
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If you wanna see those deals, sign up today at thriftytraveler.com/premium. As a special treat, podcast listeners can use the promo code t t pod for $20 off your first year of flight deal alerts. That's thriftytraveler.com/premium. Enter the promo code t t pod, five letters, all one word for $20 off your first year. Alright.
Back to the show. Alright. Let's go to the extra mile where we dig a little deeper on something in the world of travel. And this week, we're talking about this pricing tactic, I guess we'll call it, where the airlines are charging apparently more money for solo and business travelers than they are for traveling pairs or groups. Kyle, I've been watching a lot of the NBA playoffs, and right now it's time for me to hand you the ball at the top of the key, and I'm gonna go stand on the corner.
You take the ball and you do whatever you want with it here because you're the one who found this and you're the one, who broke this news. Tell me about what are we looking at here and how bad is it? I mean, it's it's pretty bad. I think the numbers speak for themselves, and, you know, we'll link in the show notes, our coverage of this starting with Delta, but then eventually, we we realized this is spread to the big three major US airlines, Delta, American, and United. And there are some pretty shocking examples, just just to list off a few.
You know, if you search for one person from Chicago to Asheville in the summer, one person, one ticket, $223 1 way. If you search for two, the total, not per person, but the total for two people is $204 each way. So not only is it more expensive to book for one, it's actually cheaper to book for two people. Flying Delta, Minneapolis to Miami, we saw a fare, in the summer for a hundred and $99 1 way for one passenger. You bump that up to two passengers or more, three or four, that ticket price drops to a a hundred and $18 apiece.
Last one, American Airlines, we're we're spreading the the love or hate, probably hate, to the big three. Flying from Charlotte to Fort Myers, Four Hundred And Twenty Two Dollars for a one way ticket for one passenger. But you bump that up to two passengers again or more, that price drops to $231 a ticket. This is so infuriating. So tell me about the scale.
Like, where are we seeing these, meet this kind of this this pricing quirk for right now? Where like, what kinds of fares are we seeing this on? I mean, I wanna be clear. We have searched everybody on the Thrifty Traveler team collectively has searched hundreds of fares. So I think we have a pretty good feel for just how widespread or not widespread this is.
That said, we haven't searched millions of fares. I mean, there truly are millions of combinations. So I don't know that I can fully capture exactly how big of a problem this is. I mean, I will say those three examples are, on the one hand, just the tip of the iceberg. We know that this is much deeper.
On the other hand, it's not happening on every route. It's pretty hit or miss. I I think it depends on the time of year. It depends on the route that you're looking at. And so far, the only places where we've seen this new kind of pricing quirk is on domestic one ways.
We haven't yet found it on round trip booking, so you can escape this as a solo traveler if you're booking round trip. And we also haven't seen it on long haul international flights yet. Is that going to happen? Maybe. Is it already out there and we just haven't seen it because we haven't searched the right combination of departure and origin city and travel day?
That that's also very possible too. But for now, it feels like it's it's pretty contained to domestic one way flights. Okay. So I the we famously neither of us have ever run an airline. We said that in our first episode.
Is that still true? Have you That is I have not worked for an airline in the last two months. I can confirm. Okay. But I'm gonna ask you to put on your, your airline CEO hat.
I guess your your airline CEO suit and tie and monocle, and you're gonna explain to us why. Why, Kyle? Why you as mister big airline executive did you do this to us? Well, just to be clear, I again, as we've said, I am not an airline CEO nor have I ever worked for one. I am a journalist, so so we asked the airlines.
And the airlines ain't talking. For lack of a better word, they ghosted us. Two of them just flat out never responded. A third said that they couldn't meet our deadline to respond as to why they're doing this or what it means or just offer some comment. And when I offered to extend our deadline, that airline also ghosted us.
So the airlines aren't saying. So let's preface this with this is our best guess about why this is happening, about what airlines are doing because, you know, while this is new and unusual, it is in the same vein of many of the moves that airlines have made before, which is the airlines call it market segmentation, and it's all about offering different fares at different prices to different people in a way that the, infrastructure of how airline cell fares works. So, you know, a business traveler who needs to fly last minute from Chicago to New York is willing to pay a much different price than, you know, a family member who needs to fly to New York last minute because there's an emergency that they need to attend to, let alone somebody who just got out of college and needs to meet up with some friends on the East Coast. So trying to meet people where they're at and offer them a different price at the right price that will get them to click purchase. That is what market segmentation is all about.
And one of the most important things that airlines try to do is try to segment the market for those business travelers because those business travelers are willing to pay much more than, you know, your average leisure traveler, your everyday vacationer because, you know, they're not paying the bills. The employer is. So my theory here is that this is just another form of market segmentation trying to target business travelers that they believe that the folks who are booking one way are more likely than not business travelers. Now is that true? It it probably is in part, but I would point out that solo travelers booking one way are not always going to be business travelers.
There are those people who have a family emergency and need to book one way as one person to go attend to some somebody in the hospital. There are college students who go to meet friends and don't have plans afterward. There are friends across the country that meet in the middle of the country, and they book just as one person because they're going to meet for the first time in years. The the the damage of this, the cost of this is going to be footed by far more than business travelers. But I think that's what the goal is here.
I book one way's, especially domestically, just for the round trip price is is rarely a better deal. So I usually just book the two one way, so you can easily dump one and change it or something like that without having to change your entire round trip itinerary. And I'm sure there are a lot of people in that boat too. You know, obviously, the emergencies and everything are are a lot more important, and those are the people who really don't deserve to be getting, hit with this kind of weird different pricing model. But obviously, this is just just quite frustrating for a lot of travelers.
We stumbled on this last week. How long do we think this has been going on, though? You know, I I'm not sure. I think if nothing else, this has expanded within the last couple of weeks in in how much airlines are doing this and on how many more routes. Because I think if this had been truly going on at some sense of scale for a while, I think we would have noticed it before because, you know, the folks on our team, you, John, Peter, Katie, you know, and the others, we are searching for not hundreds, thousands of fares a day.
And I really do think we would have caught this had airlines been doing it at some kind of scale before. My sense is that, for Delta in particular, this ties into a lot of the changes that we've already talked about on the show of rebranding their basic economy fares and calling them, main basic and, you know, revamping the way that you book flights so that, main basic fares and main classic fares, basic economy and standard economy fares are grouped together, that these things probably go hand in hand. I don't know, but, also, I kinda don't care, because it's news. I think most importantly, everyday travelers, whether this has been happening for months or even years, have no idea that this is happening. Solo travelers, business travelers, whoever have no idea that they may be paying more for their flights because they are traveling alone.
I remember, it was very earlier this year. I think it was, maybe the q four earnings call for Delta, and Glenn Howenstein was talking about how their dream is to kinda use AI to hypersegment fares kinda almost in this manner, but it it might be it's different. I don't think this is exactly what this is, but, you know, their dream is to be able to offer, you and I looking at the same fare together on two different computers, two different prices based on what we booked in the past and what, you know, they think they know about us, economically and and whatever. So, obviously, they'd be offering you a very expensive business class ticket because you're extremely bougie and well paid. No.
No. No. No. Please please, Glenn, don't do that to me. I am not bougie or wealthy.
But I I just think, you know, this is kinda maybe a first step in them kinda realizing what that that dream is. Isn't and that's, you know, being able to offer a different fair to every single person who looks at it based on what they know about that person. This is different. This is still using, you know, what we call fair buckets, I think. But it may be, you know, them kinda cracking the door and and seeing how it works.
I do think it's important that we found it out and let everybody know, just so they they, you know, people can put some pressure back on the airlines if they're frustrated by this. Yeah. I mean, I think the the prospect of of what Glenn from from Delta raised of really tailoring prices is is even more troubling than what we've seen. I think, clearly, that's what they want to do. How quickly they can do something like that is another question.
What they're doing right now is really fitting within, and we're we're about to go on a on a short nerdy rant here, a deep dive into how airlines set fare prices. It still fits within the parameters of a pretty antiquated system. It's more complicated than people think. There aren't just, you know, an economy fair and, a comfort fair or an extra legroom fair and a first class fair. There's literally an alphabet soup of fair classes, and each one has its own rules, and each one, more importantly, has its own price.
And that really is how this is being, this is being enforced, this new kind of penalty or higher fare structure for solo travelers. Because what what Delta, what American, what United has has done is on these select routes where we've seen this, they have written into the fare rules that the cheapest fare that you can book must have at least two adults on the ticket. And so if you're not searching for two adults or more, that cheapest fare, that a hundred and 18 dollar fare from Minneapolis to Miami isn't going to show up. What instead shows up is the next cheapest fare, which doesn't have the requirement to book for two adults. So we're still, I think, I don't know.
I I think and I hope we're still years away from taking this to the next level where flight prices are truly tailored to, you know, data on each individual traveler. That's pretty troubling. This is still kinda troubling, though. This is. Okay.
So I wanna just bring up something that I know somebody out there is thinking. In terms of how they're pricing this, you know, doesn't Costco do this? Doesn't buying in bulk lead to cheaper prices typically? Why is this, you know, I guess, for somebody out there who thinks, you know, maybe this is just normal economics, what do you say to that? Are you doing your best impression of a Reddit thread right now?
Well, like, what is this, Gunnar? Come on. Don't do this to me. I am all the burners that have been, commenting at you on Twitter today. This is not uncommon in the world.
Bulk discounts are normal. Volume discounts are normal. You you get a better deal by buying 12 beers instead of one. Right? That's how cases of things work.
Airlines are not Costco. This is not how they set prices. And, importantly, this is not typically how they have set prices based upon that system of fare classes. In fact, it's been the opposite typically. You know, a common common problem that families and, you know, travel companions run into is they search for a flight and they see, you know, a good price, let's say, a hundred dollars.
But when they bump it up to 2, it's suddenly a hundred and $50 per ticket. Now why is that? It's, again, it's the opposite problem of what we just laid out where there is only one fare available at that hundred dollar price point. And because you need two travelers, they don't sell you one of the cheap one and one of the more expensive one. They just sell you two of the more expensive fares.
So this is a completely different way of, you know, for lack of a better phrase, weaponizing the fare class system to penalize solo travelers. This has really struck a chord with people. You know, we were talking before the show that it really only happens once every year, sometimes every two years, where something in kind of the arcane world of airfare and flight deals and credit cards and points and miles becomes truly mainstream. I mean, the last time I remember seeing this kind of an outcry from people who are upset that they have, unbeknownst to them, been paying more for flights is, is when Delta revamped its, medallion status program, and that was in, you know, the fall of twenty twenty three. This is, this is I would say it's it's starting to look like it's on par with that, and I think rightfully so because, you know, airlines squeeze a lot out of us.
And just when we think that we've found bottom of how far airlines are willing to go in the name of squeezing maximum revenue out of people, They find a new way. And, again, it's not just business travelers who are footing the bill for that for this. It's solo travelers. It's family members who need to rush somewhere, to attend to a medical emergency. It's friends who are you reuniting for the first time in years.
This one sucks. This is, really, really frustrating. I've said that several times in this episode now, but it it is just one of those things where, airline travelers like you and me feel like sometimes we're just chasing our tail on this stuff. And and we're just, you know, constantly waiting for what are they gonna come up with next that's gonna make us have to level up once again and get even smarter than that. You know, there are always ways to beat the airlines at their own game.
But, as somebody whose job it is to figure out what that game plan is, this is really annoying that we have to do this all the time. And for the person at home who's who's taking two or three trips a year and, you know, is not is not neck deep in airfare every single day. This has to be just the worst news to come across your your Instagram or Facebook or Twitter tonight because it's just another one of those frustrating feelings of the deck is getting stacked against me. And, traveling with my favorite airline is getting more annoying once again. So I I I feel for people out there.
I wanna hear from you guys. If if you think you're gonna change the way you travel because of this, hit us up at podcast at thrifty traveler dot com. I wanna hear some feedback, for what you guys think about all this and and maybe if you've seen it before or if you've seen it again and if you have any good examples of it because, I know everybody in our office is, is kinda pissed about this. It's not a not a fun topic to cover, but I'm glad that it's out there because now we can, you know, hold these airlines to account a little bit on what they're doing. Sunlight is always the best disinfectant.
That's right. Alright. Let's, let's hear from a listener. We have a listener who wants to talk about a trip in 2026. Her name is Tootie.
Sorry if I got that wrong. Tootie asks, we used to live in Scotland back in the seventies. My mother will be 80 next year, and we have not been back for several decades. Her wish is to go back and visit. Finances are not easy, but my real question is can I find cheap flights to Europe round trip to go for next September 2026?
And if so, should I be buying that now, or do I wait until next year? What do you think, Kyle? Well, I think I think it's important to plan ahead. That said, I just wanna warn, Tutti that planning a little bit too far ahead because airlines, typically only start selling fares eleven, sometimes twelve months out. It depends from airline to airline.
You know, most of the major US airlines, you can only buy tickets three hundred and thirty one days in advance, so that's eleven months. So in that case, you know, if you're trying to travel in September of of twenty twenty six, the time to really start paying attention to things is October or even November. You know, we talk a lot on the show about, you know, booking early and then, booking a main cabin fare that you can change and most importantly, that you can cancel if prices eventually drop and then rebook and and save the difference as a travel credit. I think that is always a winning strategy. You know, that said, the the volume of flight deals that we've seen to Europe within the last, I don't know, three, four months that have popped up just probably three or four months in advance.
So, you know, flights for this summer or fall to places like Scotland and England and, Ireland popping up, you know, in the April, '5 hundreds, sometimes even less, just a few months in advance. That trend may continue to hold. So I think it's smart to start looking into it, not right now, but pretty soon, you know, once we get through the summer. And then just kind of make sure you understand what a good deal is, the deal that you really need in order to make this trip a reality. And then, you know, use Google Flights price alerts for your trip, not just from your home airport, but from other surrounding airports that you can get to cheaply where you might be able to get a better deal.
And then just be prepared to pull the trigger when you see a price that you like. Yeah. I think right now, you're in a great spot because what you get to do over the next few months is just kinda gather some inspiration or some just information on on what trip what flights you could possibly take. Right? You can look at, you know, the schedules will change year over year.
But generally, they're kind of pretty consistent September to September. So you can look at what airlines are flying from my home airport to get me to Scotland or, you know, what airports can I connect through and what are those fares look like? So you can just start gathering information now so that when it comes time to book in October or November and then all the way through, you know, March maybe of next year, you can have all that information at the ready, and you can choose the flight that's absolutely best for you. So you're absolutely right to get all over this, and make sure that you are ready to book when the time comes. If you want us to answer your question, email us at podcast@thriftchattler.com, and your question might be featured in next week's show.
Alright, Kyle. It's your turn to put me on the spot. What do you got? Typically, when I put you on the spot, I use it as a not so subtle way to roast you for your shortcomings. But I already did that, by by talking about the kitchen that you didn't built and your pregnant wife did.
So instead, I'm gonna get real with you. We talked about maybe the grossest thing that airlines have done within the last couple of years on the show. What's the second grossest thing that airlines do that you would like to call them out for? You know, it it, it might not be the grossest thing that airlines do, but it's something that has always irked me a little bit. And it's it's not, you know, very clear to a lot of travelers either.
And and that's that round trip pricing tends to be a lot cheaper than one way pricing. I I love booking flights one way. I know a lot of people do because it gives you that kind of ultimate flexibility to massage your trip, change things by a few days here or there without having to redo an entire itinerary. Right? And and I think when you book with cash, especially, you know, overseas, round trip pricing is almost always cheapest.
And when you try and book one way, it's almost it's usually almost the exact same price as the round trip. So it's just kind of annoying. And and I know there are ways to to get around it, like booking that, you know, return flight, like, almost a year in advance. And then you can kinda change and play with that a little bit. But I think it's just really frustrating.
I'd love to be able to just, you know, use points on the way there and use cash on the way back and and book a one way flight for half the price of the round trip. So I think round trip pricing is pretty gross. I wish that they do it. It may not be the most egregious thing. I know I'll think of a hundred more as soon as we're done recording here.
So, head to my Twitter or Instagram for that if, you wanna hear me rant about all the things that I missed telling you here on the podcast. Is that a good answer? Do you have one for yourself? No. I'm I'm still pretty livid about the charging solo travelers more, so I'm really kind of hyper focused on that.
That is a good one, though. I think it's also very much in the same vein of the rationale for why they're doing what they are apparently doing recently, which is to segment the market and charge people more who can afford to pay those prices. Those, in some cases, exorbitant prices in the name of additional flexibility of being able to change or cancel one flight without wrecking a round trip reservation. Think there's one silver lining to this. The airlines have apparently heard your complaints because for the most part, round trip pricing discounts in The United States to Canada to Mexico kinda short haul international as well as domestic.
It's typically not a thing. I will say I've started to see that creep back, especially for kinda close in flights. So if you're booking a domestic flight just, you know, fifteen thirty days, within departure that some in some cases, you might pay a penalty for booking a one way flight instead of a round trip. But for the most part, the airlines have heard you, Gunnar. It's gross.
Their new pricing quirks are gross. What new gross thing will the airlines do to us next week? No matter what it is, Kyle's gonna break the news and and shine some light on it for y'all. We're in the trenches here with you. We're booking the same fares that you all are looking at every day.
So I promise we will be out there standing up for you whenever we can. That's gonna be it for us on the show today. Thanks so much for listening to the Thrifty Traveler podcast. If you can rate us five stars on your podcast platform of choice, we'd be really, really grateful. We've we've had a lot of great reviews out there that we love reading as well.
Like and subscribe to us on YouTube. Shows a lot of fun when you watch in video form and you get to see a little bit of my house here today on this episode. Send this show to someone you know who needs a vacation or someone you know who needs to, know a little bit more about these airfares that are making us so angry here at Thrifty Traveler and out there in the world. If you have feedback for us, send me a note, podcast at thrifty traveler dot com. We'd love to hear from you.
Kyle, tell us about the team. This episode was produced by our senior editor, Jackson Newman, and your favorite host and father to be, Gunnar Olson. It was edited by David Strutt. Our theme music is by Benjamin Tissot. See you next week?
Maybe.