Skift Take
Legacy carriers are up against rising competition from low-cost carriers. At the same time, American, Delta and United talk about making the travel journey more connected but they're forcing budget sensitive travelers in the opposite direction of that with new pricing structures.
Fresh off American, Delta and United changing pricing structures last week for multi-city fares--making it more expensive for travelers to book trips with multiple cities--travelers making multi-city trips could face airfares six or seven times more expensive than before the changes. Leisure travelers are more willing than business travelers to book multiple one-way legs to hack these changes and save money, according to a survey.
The three legacy U.S. carriers made changes to compete with low-cost carriers in certain markets like Spirit Airlines. American, Delta and United stopped allowing individual nonrefundable tickets to be combined and now only offer fully refundable tickets when combining one-way legs, which are often several times more expensi
