American Airlines charges solo travelers higher fares on about one-third of their domestic flights compared to what two passengers pay per ticket on the same routes, according to research by Thrifty Traveler.
A Miami to Charlotte one-way flight costs $496 for a single passenger but drops to $155 per person when booked for two travelers. On some routes, two people or more can purchase fares at $100 basic economy that solo travelers cannot access at all.
Thrifty Traveler analyzed 5,000 domestic nonstop one-way flights across the five largest U.S. carriers. They found higher solo fares on 33.5% of American Airlines flights and 10.6% of United Airlines flights. The practice did not appear on Delta, Alaska Airlines, or Southwest Airlines flights in their sample. The average fare difference exceeded $90 on affected American flights and over $64 on United.
American calls this pricing strategy Multi-Pax Fares for eligible passengers who book and travel together. The airline also applied the restriction to some roundtrip and short-haul international itineraries.
The practice emerged as airlines shifted from using advance purchase requirements and Saturday night stay restrictions to separate business and leisure travelers. Now basic economy fares and accompaniment requirements serve that purpose instead. Airlines position the strategy as a discount for multiple passengers rather than a premium for solo travelers.
The pricing occurs most frequently on routes where American and United face no nonstop competition, particularly in American's Charlotte and Philadelphia markets.
Travelers planning bookings should search for the actual number of passengers traveling together and compare total prices before purchasing. Searching separately for one person first may miss lower fares available only for multiple passengers on the same reservation.