Travel question: What’s with the easyJet ads based on two passengers?

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Simon Calder
Friday 14 June 2019 16:52 BST
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In winter Geneva is a popular travel hub for snow sports
In winter Geneva is a popular travel hub for snow sports (EPA)

Q On an easyJet ad for skiing flights there’s a fare of £37.99. One line of small print says that the offer is based on two people travelling. The other says that there are an odd number of seats (actually 259) available. What’s going on?

JP

A I agree that it looks odd, and I see that when you tweeted easyJet to ask, you were told, enigmatically: “Some people prefer to fly alone.”

The real explanation is to do with pricing and advertising rules.

The “two together” stipulation is a reflection of easyJet’s unusual practice of charging a £16 administration fee on every booking. This makes one-way fares for solo travellers relatively expensive – on Tuesday 3 March, the cheapest Gatwick-Geneva flight for a single person is £39, compared with just £31 for two people buying on the same booking.

Book a return trip for two, and the outward portion falls to £27 each – because that admin fee is being shared across more flights.

In order for its fares to look competitive, easyJet wants to quote attractive one-way fares. They are based on two people travelling together, on the reasonable grounds that it reflects what many travellers do.

The other aspect, where the ad talks about the (odd) number of seats available, is to demonstrate that there is a reasonable inventory on offer at the quoted price. Otherwise, an airline could make just a handful of seats available at the fare stated, and try to “upsell” prospective passengers into paying more.

As always, of course, it’s other people’s demand that determines what you pay. On the half-term Saturday, 15 February 2020, the prime morning flight from Gatwick to Geneva is £606 one way – based on two travelling together.

Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder

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