# Can you really show up at the airport and "bargain" for a seat on a flight?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-show-up-at-the-airport-and-bargain-for-a-seat-on-a-flight/357432
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 19, 2006, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-show-up-at-the-airport-and-bargain-for-a-seat-on-a-flight/357432 "2006-05-19T18:22:03Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@seenidog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seenidog)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2006, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-show-up-at-the-airport-and-bargain-for-a-seat-on-a-flight/357432/21 "2006-05-20T17:19:14Z")
Slightly off topic, but it is about airline ticket pricing. A few years ago (maybe 10) I read about a incident where a man wanted to go from A to B. It turned out a ticket from A to C (with a plane change at B) was cheaper. So the guy bought a ticket to C, got off the first plane and never got on the second plane. The article said it was a common practice for those “In the know”. The airlines caught on, and filed suit ( I don’t remember against who) claiming that the ticket constitutes a contract, and failure to continue to C is a breach. I never heard how it came out. I have taken three commercial flights in my life, (okay six, three round trips). I got more time than money so Greyhound is an option for me. It is not a hot button issue for me, but airline pricing is a mystery. Costs less to fly to C than to B which is half as far? Anyone remember the “Half a flight” issue? If so, how did it turn out?
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### Author:  [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2006, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-show-up-at-the-airport-and-bargain-for-a-seat-on-a-flight/357432/22 "2006-05-20T17:31:47Z")
> [@seenidog](#):
>
> I got more time than money so Greyhound is an option for me. It is not a hot button issue for me, but airline pricing is a mystery. Costs less to fly to C than to B which is half as far? Anyone remember the “Half a flight” issue? If so, how did it turn out?
One quick look around an airline website and you will see that ticket prices have little or nothing to do with distance. Sometimes (but very rarely) the cheapest ticket from San Francisco to Denver is more expensive than the cheapest ticket from San Francisco to London (yes, England). Prices depend on demand, and demand depends on who wants to go from where to where, why and when. The distance is simply an operations cost that has to be accounted for in the price, but does not determine it.
A flight A-C with a connection in B is just a flight A to C. A to B and B to C legs of the flight do not necessarily have to even be flights you can buy tickets for in the first place.
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### Author:  [@midwestgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/midwestgirl)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2006, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-show-up-at-the-airport-and-bargain-for-a-seat-on-a-flight/357432/23 "2006-05-20T17:41:49Z")
> [@seenidog](#):
>
> Slightly off topic, but it is about airline ticket pricing. A few years ago (maybe 10) I read about a incident where a man wanted to go from A to B. It turned out a ticket from A to C (with a plane change at B) was cheaper. So the guy bought a ticket to C, got off the first plane and never got on the second plane. The article said it was a common practice for those “In the know”. The airlines caught on, and filed suit ( I don’t remember against who) claiming that the ticket constitutes a contract, and failure to continue to C is a breach. I never heard how it came out. I have taken three commercial flights in my life, (okay six, three round trips). I got more time than money so Greyhound is an option for me. It is not a hot button issue for me, but airline pricing is a mystery. Costs less to fly to C than to B which is half as far? Anyone remember the “Half a flight” issue? If so, how did it turn out?
If you are ticketed from point A to point C but get off at point B with a roundtrip ticket, the remainder of your itinerary (including the return) will automatically be canceled by the airline’s reservation system…on ANY airline. A ticket from point A to point C is a completely different market than A to B.
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### Author:  [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2006, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-show-up-at-the-airport-and-bargain-for-a-seat-on-a-flight/357432/24 "2006-05-20T17:46:22Z")
> [@seenidog](#):
>
> Slightly off topic, but it is about airline ticket pricing. A few years ago (maybe 10) I read about a incident where a man wanted to go from A to B. It turned out a ticket from A to C (with a plane change at B) was cheaper. So the guy bought a ticket to C, got off the first plane and never got on the second plane. The article said it was a common practice for those “In the know”. The airlines caught on, and filed suit ( I don’t remember against who) claiming that the ticket constitutes a contract, and failure to continue to C is a breach. I never heard how it came out. I have taken three commercial flights in my life, (okay six, three round trips). I got more time than money so Greyhound is an option for me. It is not a hot button issue for me, but airline pricing is a mystery. Costs less to fly to C than to B which is half as far? Anyone remember the “Half a flight” issue? If so, how did it turn out?
Check out this thread:
[http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-270743.html](http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-270743.html)
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### Author:  [@seenidog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seenidog)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2006, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-show-up-at-the-airport-and-bargain-for-a-seat-on-a-flight/357432/25 "2006-05-20T18:25:37Z")
to Huerta88:
WOW! Thanks for the link. I suddenly remember why I like to stay at home and if I have to go I take the bus and a good book to read. I don’t want to think that hard at work, let alone for casual travel. Good thing my job rarely reguires travel more than a hundred miles. In ten years I had to go on one roundtrip flight, and all the arrangements were made by the company.
I guess I was just not meant to be a part of the “Jet-set”! I did do some helicopter time in the army, (Peacetime thankfully), arrangements were simple, “Get your butt in the chopper” the Sgt yelled.
Thanks for the info.
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### Author:  [@pudytat72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pudytat72)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2006, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-show-up-at-the-airport-and-bargain-for-a-seat-on-a-flight/357432/26 "2006-05-20T19:43:50Z")
> [@Huerta88](#):
>
> Next time you’re on an international flight, you may well notice that coach is crammed and business/first class mostly empty. Many intelligent frequent flyers have said – so can’t I offer $200 and upgrade? The same number of people will be on the plane, and they’re $200 the richer. But (these sort of things are abundantly covered on sites like [flyertalk.com](http://flyertalk.com)) the airlines generally don’t view it this way, and would rather the seat go empty, or be given to a deadheading employee, than sold at less than what they regard as the optimal-mix price.
Last weekend, I was doing the self check-in at the airport in Columbus, Ohio for my flight to Chicago and then Dallas. The computer offered me an upgrade to first class on the Chicago-Dallas leg for $90.00. First time I had ever seen anything like that. Decided not to do it, (I had already had dinner, and I don’t drink much alcohol) but maybe next time for the leg room!)
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### Author:  [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2006, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-show-up-at-the-airport-and-bargain-for-a-seat-on-a-flight/357432/27 "2006-05-20T21:53:20Z")
A bit of a hijack - how to get an upgrade to first class: [http://www.lifehacker.com/software/travel/how-to-get-an-upgrade-to-firstclass-170947.php](http://www.lifehacker.com/software/travel/how-to-get-an-upgrade-to-firstclass-170947.php)
I suppose if this is possible, bargaining for a seat might work occasionally.
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### Author:  [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2006, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-show-up-at-the-airport-and-bargain-for-a-seat-on-a-flight/357432/28 "2006-05-20T21:58:37Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#):
>
> A bit of a hijack - how to get an upgrade to first class: [How to get an upgrade to first-class](http://www.lifehacker.com/software/travel/how-to-get-an-upgrade-to-firstclass-170947.php)
>
> I suppose if this is possible, bargaining for a seat might work occasionally.
Gate agents, concierges have operational upgrade authority. As far as **sell** you a ticket at a lower, discretionary price . . . I just don’t see it, because I doubt the computer would cooperate.
I’ve been op-upgraded on a number of occasions. All very random. It’s always (except once) been the agent’s offer/decision; I’ve never succeeded by asking for it. (Exception: on a flight to England my GF pointed out, correctly, that it was my birthday and we had platinum status. Yay, it worked, but then, coach _was_ full and they were going to have to upgrade someone).
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### Author:  [@midwestgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/midwestgirl)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2006, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-show-up-at-the-airport-and-bargain-for-a-seat-on-a-flight/357432/29 "2006-05-20T22:23:47Z")
> [@Huerta88](#):
>
> The problem is the computer has to spit the ticket out and the various “fare buckets” are what they are. Even if a given ticket agent wanted to do this for you, I don’t know how he could generate a ticket that overrode the lowest-available fare bucket.
>
> The allocation of fare buckets is done, AFAIK, by revenue management departments (read: corp. HQ) and is a black art (and constantly shifting). The fiction is that the pricing structure for the various seats is constantly adjusted so as to yield “optimal” revenue for a flight, for a day, for a month. Accordingly, if a plane is about to take off half full, and you are not willing to pay as much as [lowest available fare in the system], they’d rather have the seat go empty than cannibalize their future sales by eroding the price below the optimal mix.
>
> Next time you’re on an international flight, you may well notice that coach is crammed and business/first class mostly empty. Many intelligent frequent flyers have said – so can’t I offer $200 and upgrade? The same number of people will be on the plane, and they’re $200 the richer. But (these sort of things are abundantly covered on sites like [flyertalk.com](http://flyertalk.com)) the airlines generally don’t view it this way, and would rather the seat go empty, or be given to a deadheading employee, than sold at less than what they regard as the optimal-mix price.
Offering an agent $200 for an upgrade from coach to first or business on an International itinerary is seldom going to work. A gate agent may offer this on a domestic flight but if your going from Detroit to London off-peak season, you may have paid $500 for your ticket where a business class ticket is easilly $2000, any airline would rather let the business seat go empty rather than offer a $2000 seat for $700, it would completely devalue the business class product were they to do this. I’m not saying this never happens but I travel to Europe frequently and worked in the travel industry for five years and I’ve never seen it…on the other hand, as an Elite level flyer, I have been offered a Business upgrade for free when Coach has been oversold, and coach is oversold alot these days on NWA flights to London and Frankfurt.
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### Author:  [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2006, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-show-up-at-the-airport-and-bargain-for-a-seat-on-a-flight/357432/30 "2006-05-22T08:50:44Z")
> [@drachillix](#):
>
> their product is a space on a plane
The solution becomes evident. We need Samuel L. Jackson.
“I want this muthafuckin’ space off the muthafuckin’ plane!”
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