The “singles tax” is a common term in renting housing, filing taxes, and purchasing groceries for meal prep — living alone is both a luxury and, for those who are single by circumstances, an expense that they would rather not have to bear.
While airline fares should, in theory, be independent of how many people book flights together, some travelers found that Delta (DAL) prices jumped when searched for as a single ticket rather than a group of two or more flying on the same reservation.
While only happening on certain specific routes, the differences sometimes proved substantial. As discovered by flight and points website Thrifty Traveler, a flight from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) to Miami International Airport (MIA) in September currently comes up as $199 for a single traveler and $118 each when booked for two. The practice also isn’t unique to Delta. A United Airlines (UAL) flight between Chicago’s O’Hare (ORD) and Peoria International Airport (PIA) in central Illinois came up as $269 for one traveler and $151 when booked together — a difference of over 70%.
Don’t miss the move: SIGN UP for TheStreet’s FREE Daily news
‘Almost exclusively on one-way fares and not roundtrip bookings’
Similar differences are also in place for premium and business-class tickets on the same routes.
“We searched dozens of fares Wednesday morning and only saw it on three or four routes – almost exclusively on one-way fares and not roundtrip bookings,” Kyle Potter of Thrifty Traveler wrote of the findings. “As of publication, we haven’t been able to replicate this new pricing phenomenon on international tickets.”
Related: Marriott hotels won’t stop hotels from this sneaky practice
Delta and United have not replied to requests to comment on whether these findings were a mistake or reflect company polices for specific routes.
Some speculation is that single travelers on certain routes have been flagged as business travelers, for whom airlines have also been known to raise rates.
United Airlines is another carrier found to engage in this pricing structure.
Image source: Shutterstock
Why is this happening? Airlines are not commenting
“And much like Delta, this isn’t a glitch,” Potter wrote further. “United spells it all out in the fare rules for these cheaper tickets, which are publicly accessible using an advanced airfare search engine like ITA Matrix. It plainly states: ‘Must be accompanied on all sectors in same compartment by at least one adult 15 or older.’ There’s no such ‘accompaniment restriction’ on United’s higher-priced single traveler fares.”
More on travel:
United Airlines places big bet on new flights to trendy destinationGovernment issues new travel advisory on popular beach destinationAnother country just issued a new visa requirement for visitors
After Thrifty Traveler brought this pricing structure to light, some travelers pointed out that they have encountered similar behavior from cruise lines and companies operating tours in popular destinations. Different comparisons have found that a cruise ticket for solo travelers was in some cases double the price that families with two adults were being shown online.
In March 2025, Carnival Cruise Line (CCL) Brand Ambassador John Heald wrote a terse reply to a customer who asked him about the cruise line’s rising prices on Facebook (META) .
“Well, I guess the answer is, very simply, supply and demand,” Heald wrote, stoking the anger many were expressing over high prices. “We are a business. We have a responsibility to the shareholders, and we also have rising inflation, which affects our business as well.”
Related: Veteran fund manager issues dire S&P 500 warning for 2025
