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Associated Press

It’s not just you: shopping for airfare is harder than ever.
Choosing between basic economy and regular economy fares and navigating add-on fees makes booking more complicated, and that’s no accident.
Airlines are harnessing lessons from a still-emerging academic field known as behavioural economics to nudge customers into spending more.
“Behavioural economics was developed by incorporating ideas from psychology into standard economic theories,” says Cait Lamberton, a professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

“If you see a deal that is available for only a short amount of time, and you pay more than you usually would, standard economics would say you’ve made an irrational decision.
“Behavioural economics says that no, what your brain is doing is responding to scarcity.”
Chicago, Rome, Chennai: the places waiting for direct flights to Hong Kong
These seemingly irrational choices are called biases, many of which can affect how we shop.
For example, “loss aversion” makes us hypersensitive to losing money and more likely to buy something like trip protection. The “decoy effect” makes us more likely to choose between two suboptimal options when a third, even worse option is presented.
For example, airlines may offer a decoy like an expensive premium ticket with fewer amenities, which may make the cheaper premium ticket with more benefits look more appealing.
Airlines are well aware of these tendencies and how they drive our decisions. So to save money on flights, customers need to understand how the airfare shopping experience has been engineered to exploit our biases.

Don’t buy because everyone else is
Airlines will use a technique called “social proof” to upsell certain products, such as trip protection, by suggesting that many other travellers are adding it to their itineraries. Yet these marketing tactics don’t offer much real-world value for consumers, according to experts.
Lamberton explains that those messages during the checkout process, like the number of people who have insured their trip today, shouldn’t sway your decision to purchase because they often lack context. “Is that a lot of people or a few people?” she says.

Be prepared for add-on fees
Another bias that should ring true for anyone trying to buy an airline ticket: “decision fatigue”. That is, we tend to make worse decisions when we have to make several of them in a row.
This airline or that? Early flight or later? Pay for a window seat? Pay now for a checked bag? Upgrade to premium economy? With each decision, our ability to make ideal choices diminishes.
“Once I’m four or five clicks into purchasing this, the price has changed completely,” Lamberton says, suggesting that airlines will withhold information until later in the process, when consumers are less likely to start over.
Indeed, a 2020 study published in Marketing Science found that customers made suboptimal decisions when prices were “dripped” throughout the checkout process, largely because of their unwillingness to start over.
Overcoming decision fatigue isn’t easy. Realising a flight is more expensive than you imagined and then starting over takes time and energy, so consider booking flights at a time when you’re not in a rush and you can spend more time doing comparison shopping.
“If you want to overcome these biases, you will have to slow down and give yourself the space to pay attention to these things,” Lamberton suggests.

Know your preferences
Budget airlines offer rock-bottom fares while charging more for basic add-ons like carry-on bags and seat selection. Skipping the extra fees means forgoing amenities that many travellers consider vital.
The trick is to determine ahead of time what you really need. Otherwise, you could get swayed by the upsell.
“My doctoral adviser gave me a great piece of advice: Know your own utility function,” Lamberton says, referencing an economic term for the satisfaction you gain from a certain product. “You have to know what actually matters to you.”
For example, travellers with small children may be more willing to pay for seat selection to ensure the family sits together. For solo travellers, paying US$15 to select a seat might not be worth it.
The same holds for basics such as when to fly. An early flight might be cheaper, but how much is a few more hours’ sleep worth? The answer will vary from person to person, and even then, there are unconscious behaviours preventing us from making the best decision.
China adds lipstick to gloomy economic recovery with domestic summer travel boom
“We don’t know what we’re going to prefer in the future – we’re terrible forecasters,” Lamberton says. “I always think, ‘I won’t mind taking that 4.30am flight.’ But of course I do.”
As a general rule, if an airline seems to be pushing an option – whether it’s upgrading your seat or adding a bundle of benefits – go back to your original preferences. Do you need it?
If you take the time to evaluate your own biases and the airline’s incentives, you might realise you don’t need to pay as much to travel.
This article was provided by the personal finance website NerdWallet


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Tourism

How you can save on airfares using behavioural economics: do you really want that earlier flight, or need that extra legroom?

Airlines are using psychology crossed with economics to get more money out of their customers, such as by charging a family extra to sit together or offering decoy bargains. To avoid overpaying, know what you want before you book.  Photo: Shutterstock

Will you pay extra for seat selection? Photo: Shutterstock

Flights have become more expensive since the pandemic, and airlines are using every trick to increase their profits. Photo: Shutterstock

Be careful that decision fatigue doesn’t leave you paying sky-high prices for your next flight. Photo: Shutterstock

You may be charged extra for your carry-on baggage. Photo: Shutterstock

‘A luxury cruise on rails’: Orient Express train trips across Italy at up to US$27,000 per night for 2 aimed at wealthy travellers seeking guilt-free adventures

A dining carriage on The Orient Express La Dolce Vita train. Photo: Accor Group

A suite onboard a La Dolce Vita train. The trains will offer a selection of one- to three-night trips from Rome to places such as Venice and Sicily, and offer deluxe amenities and grand evening dinners. Photo: Accor Group

Carriages of the La Dolce Vita luxury sleeper train. Photo: Accor Group

The first two trains will start service from Rome to northern and southern Italy, the latter including tours through Sicily. Photo: Accor Group

The train routes will take in destinations including Portofino (above). Photo: Shutterstock

The interiors of the La Dolce Vita luxury sleeper train are inspired by 20th century Italian design. Photo: Accor Group

The dining carriage on the La Dolce Vita luxury sleeper train. Italian aperitifs and local wines will be served, and delicacies will include sea urchin and truffles. Photo: Accor Group

The main concert hall of the Teatro alla Scala opera house in Milan, Italy. Travellers will be able to hop off the train to catch a performance here. Photo: Shutterstock

The famous St Mark’s Basilica in Venice at dawn. Photo: Shutterstock

How dark sky tourism is on the rise as light pollution increases and more stars disappear for most of us every year

The Milky Way and galactic core area as seen over mountains in the Columbia Icefield, in North America’s Rocky Mountains. Dark sky tourism, or astrotourism, to see such stunning sights of stars in the night sky is becoming increasingly popular. Photo: Getty Images

A hiker watches the skies above Mount Robson, the highest mountain of the Canadian Rockies, during a winter starry night. Photo: Shutterstock

The aurora borealis, or “northern lights”, over the Athabasca River in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada, on October 23, 2016. Photo: Getty Images

The night sky at Canada’s Jasper National Park. Photo: Peter Neville-Hadley

The Milky Way over and reflected in the relatively calm water of Pyramid Lake in Jasper National Park, on a mid-October night. Photo: Getty Images

What to do along the Somme: World War I French battle site is a picturesque region that offers a wealth of attractions

An early morning horseback ride through the bay of the Somme is a typical activity in the French region famed for its World War I battle. Photo: John Brunton

The bay of the Somme at low tide. Photo: John Brunton

The quay at Saint Valéry-sur-Somme, with moored pleasure boats waiting for the tide to rise. Photo: John Brunton

Graves of Chinese labourers who died in World War I, at Le Cimetière Chinois: Photo: Le Cimetière Chinois

Chinese labourers in France circa 1920. Photo: Le Cimetière Chinois

Local artisan cheeses and butter for sale at a producer’s stall at Saint Valéry’s outdoor street market. Photo: John Brunton

People cross the bay from Saint-Valéry-sur-Somme to Le Crotoy at low tide. Photo: John Brunton

Les Tourelles, a 19th century hotel, looks out over the bay. Photo: John Brunton

The rise of Shenzhen, China’s Silicon Valley – from seaside town to fast-moving city with secret pockets of tranquillity

People enjoy a night view of Shenzhen’s skyline from the top of Lianhuashan Park. Known as the Silicon Valley of China, the city in southern Guangdong province has experienced unprecedented growth over the past 40 years. Photo:  Erika Na

The city’s skyscrapers seen from Shenzhen Bay Park. Photo: Erika Na

People enjoy the view from Shekou, right outside the Design Society, an art museum in the area. Photo: Erika Na

Deng Xiaoping’s statue stands at the highest point of the city’s Lianhuashan Park. Photo: Erika Na

The Civic Centre in Shenzhen was constructed in the 1990s. Photo: Erika Na

A view of the Shenzhen River, marking the border between Shenzhen on the right and farmland in Hong Kong on the left. Photo: Getty Images

Yuanling Xincun is one of the neighbourhoods in Shenzhen that still retain the feel of the city in the 1980s. Photo: Erika Na

Shenzhen was one of China’s first four special economic zones (SEZ). Photo: Erika Na

Yuanling Xincun was one of the first residential districts developed by the Shenzhen government in the 1980s. Photo: Erika Na

Shane Liu’s small art space Arbre is located on the ground floor of a residential building in Yuanling Xincun. Photo: Erika Na

Children make their way to the outdoor public swimming pool at Yuanling Xincun. Photo: Erika Na

Older people are often spotted taking care of their grandchildren during the day at public spaces such as Zhongshan Park. Photo: Erika Na

The Shenzhen Bay Bridge can be seen from Shenzhen Bay Park. Photo: Erika Na

Yu Chunjiang’s cycling club goes cycling to Shenzhen Bay Park everyday. Photo: Erika Na

Lifestyle

Travel & Leisure

Airlines are using economic and psychological tricks, known as behavioural economics, to get their customers to pay more for their flights
From the endless add-ons to decoy bargains and ‘trip protection’, you can avoid overpaying if you decide up front exactly what you want from your flight


Airlines use psychology crossed with economics to get passengers to spend more on tickets, such as by charging a family extra to sit together or offering decoy bargains. Don’t fall into their traps.


Aviation