Airlines pay a 7.5% federal excise tax on the fares of the tickets they sell. When multiplied across thousands and thousands of passengers each day, this really adds up. The key is that this tax only applies to the actual fare, and not the fees. Anything that is optional is a fee, and not part…
Continue reading: The Sneakily Brilliant Way Allegiant Air Uses Your Internet Searches Against You
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Seriously Travis... I'm just not getting your posts...
All of this is super obvious and common practice, how can you be so surprised?
This interpretation is highly speculative and doesn’t seem to fit with the facts very well. The title of the page, “Purchase Cheap Airline Tickets at the Airport,” is visible to people who just “surf” to the page through Allegiant’s web site because it will appear in the title of their browser, so it’s not clear that the information is really being concealed from people who just happen to browse to the page.
Moreover, nothing in the title of the page or the description that shows up on Google alerts people that tickets actually will be *cheaper* when purchased at the airport than what purchased online. Unless I already knew that it’s possible to avoid a fee by buying at the airport, from the title and description you quote above, I would assume that the tickets are equally “cheap” whether purchased online or at the airport.
Keep in mind, Allegiant is a low-cost airline. They’re trying to appeal to cost-conscious consumers generally. Doesn’t it seem much more likely that Allegiant is just putting words like “cheap airline tickets” into various pages throughout its web site so that when someone searches for “cheap airline tickets,” they’ll be directed to *some* page on Allegiant’s web site (not necessarily the page about buying cheap tickets *at the airport*)?
Your theory also presupposes that Allegiant is trying to “bucket” people based on whether they want to buy tickets at the airport. But willingness to go to the airport to purchase tickets doesn’t reveal meaningful information about price sensitivity. At least in New York, even going by public transportation from the city to the airport, round trip, would cost more than the fee. The only people who would be willing to take advantage of an airport purchase option are people who live or work relatively close to the airport. So advertising this doesn’t really help them price discriminate based on willingness to pay — it just lets them sort people based on how close they are to the airport, which isn’t particularly helpful for revenue maximization.
Bottom line, this speculative assertion strikes me as implausible. But if you think that’s what Allegiant might be doing, why didn’t you ask Allegiant for comment, at the very least, before posting this?
What's different is the extra charge for booking online, which means they don't show you their best fare if you search online. It's scammy and sneaky.
This is basic digital marketing - they noticed people were searching for that and optimized the page info to get click throughs.
Speaking of segmentation - it seems like that is what OMAAT is trying to do with all these Spirit and Frontier articles. Curious how that is working for you guys on clicks - most of us are here to maximize our points for higher classes of travel not game Frontier into giving us a free exit row seat to save $25. Then again, I don't see your analytics so I could be wrong.
Is the fee rule true for any kind of ticket? There's some TicketMaster fees I would like to know how to avoid.
Very Seinfeldian article. All the other bloggers are busy writing about something, but Travis is writing about absolutely nothing. Love the unique perspective!
What's funny is that it costs Allegiant more to sell a ticket at the airport than it does online, but they charge less at the airport. They're just counting on very few people dealing with the hassle.
Lucky - Used to be a huge fan of your blog but stopped reading as of late. Do we really need another article on buying tickets at the airport?! Talk about beating a dead horse. Your blog is (or at least used to be) about aspirational travel and not about driving to the airport to buy a ticket for same day travel to save all of $14!
Please get rid of Travis and do yourself a huge favor before you start losing readers...
I agree with the author. It is all about the bottom line and if they can double talk the public why not!.
As for those defending the carriers do you work for the company or get some sort of premium for the kind words?? Or just OK with today's indifferent service and boosting the company's bottom line (stockholder?).
Travel to the airport to save money? In my case it would cost me all of $2.75 to get there by public transportation (or $5.50 round trip) so if I am buying 2 tickets and traveling on an ultra low cost carrier why would i not elect to save the $20.50 difference for two tickets???
Bottom line the fare page should show the various prices for tickets. By online pay $ purchase at airport up to 1 year prior to travel and pay $ (whatever the time limit is) and let the consumer make the informed choice. Why do they have to "jump through hoops" to figure this out???
As a "mature" traveler I recall the glory days of air travel and then was nothing like today (nor did it cost more so don't even go there) . It seems being treated like dirt, charged excessive fees on cramped dirty planes not to mention having to endure invasive security is fine as long as you can wear whatever and have access to wi fi. It might work for you guys but not for me and I don't fly anymore unless necessary because of it. In any case I would not consider choosing any of these ultra discount carriers, a flying Greyhound is not for me!!!
I heard Lucky has thrown in the towel on Lufthansa,Cathay Pacific and Emirates in First Class
and will be buying Allegiant Air tickets exclusively at the airport
and become a 100k Frequent Flyer with them ;):)
Can't wait to read the trip reports 🙂
Seriously time to merge with that other high end premium carrier Spirit!
Marriage made in heaven
Add in the cost of gas and expensive airport parking and buying tix without a booking fee at the airport is a zero sum game.
I like hearing about any how to get tickets cheaper and I don't care what airline it is. I have used the Spirit trick for buying tickets at the airport, but never Allegiant. Thanks for keeping us informed on how to keep more of our money. Please keep reporting on the little airlines as this helps the little guys afford travel.
Isn't the point that to make the online ticketing charge "optional" there has to be an option for avoiding the fee, which is buying the ticket at the airport, which in theory costs Allegiant money but in reality is a little-used option and Allegiant will profit from being able to charge the online fee in spite of the handful of people who buy at the airport.
I think John nailed it:
"Keep in mind, Allegiant is a low-cost airline. They’re trying to appeal to cost-conscious consumers generally. Doesn’t it seem much more likely that Allegiant is just putting words like “cheap airline tickets” into various pages throughout its web site so that when someone searches for “cheap airline tickets,” they’ll be directed to *some* page on Allegiant’s web site (not necessarily the page about buying cheap tickets *at the airport*)?"
I side with Travis here.
Instead of a 7th monthly reminder to apply for a certain credit card or a 5th review of the same luxury hotel, this Allegiant coverage is refreshing. Many of us don't plan to fly low-cost carriers and we can simply skip the read as we wish... I mean the title says Allegiant so there's no click-baiting involved.
While this article doesn't add to my knowledge for my future travels (mind you many OMAAT articles don't), I have a lot of appreciation of the attention to detail and the nerdiness related to travel.
Good article. Part of my travel philosophy is being better educated about tricks that travel companies use against you. I mean, sure, this isn't an article about collecting rubber duckies from the Lufthansa first-class lounge, but it still has value to me. Thanks for writing it!
Guess you haven't tried flying Allegiant out of St Petersburg, FL. You'd have to wait in line an hour to get to the desk as they are so overloaded with flights and by the time you got your ticket, you'd probably miss the flight even with it being notoriously late.