BFM+Exclusive
How Airline Checkouts Make You Pay More for The Same Seat
8 mins
about 
+3 morefrom the UX of Flights
Skills you'll build
How checkouts utilise strategic bundling to convert more
The value of certainty in design
Why you shouldn't trust "best value" tags
Two passengers, same flight, identical seats—yet they’ve paid completely different prices.
Why? Because booking platforms use strategic bundling and add-ons to upsell and manipulate your choices.
In Chapter 1 we saw how airlines compete to make you feel like you’re getting the best deal.
But take the cost to check-in a bag, as an example.
It's the same flight, the same airline, and yet you can pay more than the cost of the fare, to check in a single bag.
Cost to check in a bag
In £
* An important distinction here is that the aggregators (Skyscanner, Google and Kayak) don't set the prices. I used the cheapest fare shown, and then the cost that the booking platform charged (e.g., Opodo, eDreams).
The real costs are buried in the checkout, where there is almost no transparency.
Now, when you consider three add-ons: selecting a seat, checking in a bag, and some ticket flexibility, look what happens compared to the "base fare":
Written by Peter Ramsey
