Why is a nonstop flight sometimes more expensive than multiple connections?
- By
- Aparna Patel
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- 25 Jul, 2023
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The most comprehensive and direct answer is “because the airline figured they could sell one of this seats at a higher price”. Time of day, convenience, competition, costs all figure in what’s acceptable to the passengers and whether the airline can stay in business but none of this directly dictates price.
Not just competition, but also supply and demand. Many people prefer direct connections for their convenience, and are willing to pay more for them. Also, the separate legs of the indirect connection may well be less busy routes, requiring the airline to lower prices on those legs in order to entice passengers who’d otherwise either not travel or take other modes of transport (e.g. airfare between Amsterdam and Paris fell sharply when the high speed rail link was started).
You have to weigh the cost difference against the time loss and inconvenience (plus the higher risk of mislaid or stolen luggage).
I think the answer has to do with competition.
If you want to fly from Madrid to Rio de Janeiro with one stop, you have lots of options. You can fly TAM (via Sao Paulo), TAP Portugal (via Lisbon), American (via New York or Miami), KLM (via Amsterdam), Air France (via Paris), etc, etc. (I found these with Kayak.) There is a lot of competition and this will tend to drive fares down.
However, if you want to fly from Madrid to Sao Paulo nonstop, your only choices are TAM, Iberia, and (somewhat surprisingly) Air China (though only twice a week). There is less competition, so fares may tend to be higher, and this may exceed the effect of the cost of the extra flight GRU-GIG.
As a more exaggerated example, from my home airport of Ithaca (ITH), I’ve often seen ITH-EWR-SFO (a total of 4400 km) priced lower than ITH-EWR (which is only 275 km). There are three different airlines providing one-stop service ITH-xxx-SFO, but only one that flies ITH-EWR nonstop.
This effect is why hidden city ticketing can sometimes be advantageous, and why airline policies usually forbid it.
- Are non-Muslims allowed to enter mosques in Malaysia?
- Iberia changed my flight and I now have a 24+ hour layover in Madrid, what are my rights?
It could be the time of day. Often red-eye flights are cheaper, or business-hour flights are more expensive. The MAD -> GRU one could be a really convenient and popular flight, and as such they can charge more for it, while the MAD-> GRU -> GIG one may be leaving at 4am and arriving at an awful time as well, but it’s convenient for them to relocate planes then or something, so they offer a lower price to fill the plane.
In addition, landing charges may vary at different times of the day, to get a spot in the queue or at the terminal during peak times will cost more.
Airports charge the airlines quite a bit for premium slots 🙂
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘
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