Why does easyJet charge more when flying solo?

Q Why does easyJet charge more for the same flight when travelling alone? Is the airline punishing solo travellers with a hidden charge?

Sabrina S

A You are referring to easyJet’s strange pricing policy. In 2012, when the widespread practice of charging extra for debit card payments was ended, easyJet responded by introducing an “administration fee” of £9 per booking. This applied regardless of the number of passengers and flights. It has been approved by the Civil Aviation Authority.

Since then the charge has steadily risen to £16. For a family of four flying a return journey, this represents a modest £2 per person per flight. But on a one-person, one-way journey it adds a full £16.

The effect for solo travellers is to make easyJet more expensive. But I wouldn’t categorise it as “hidden”. To conform with UK pricing rules, as easyJet says: “This is included in the flight price you see – it is not an extra charge.”

Because it distorts the fare for solo travellers so much, the admin fee makes easyJet look uncompetitive. Searching two weeks ahead for London-Barcelona flights, for example, easyJet is more expensive than Vueling and Ryanair for one passenger. But for a couple, with an effective £8 drop in the price per person, easyJet becomes cheapest.

I don’t feel penalised as a solo traveller. For most journeys where there is plenty of competition, I generally book on Ryanair, Jet2, British Airways or other airlines without a similar flat-rate charge. When easyJet is the only answer, then I see if I can make a couple of bookings at the same time (eg Gatwick-Barcelona for two weeks’ time, Stansted-Edinburgh for a trip some months ahead) to halve the impact.

Certainly, there is a fixed cost to setting up a booking and taking payment. But I would measure the administration cost in pence rather than pounds.

So long as the fares are clear, easyJet can price its flights however it wishes. But I imagine one day soon the airline will realise it’s losing out by sending travellers like me to other carriers, and abolish the charge.