After confirming that all three of the nation's largest airlines were quietly charging solo and business travelers higher fares and an ensuing uproar last week, all but one carrier has pulled the plug on those fares: American Airlines. And it's also the most egregious user of that pricing tactic – far beyond the “hit or miss” our research initially suggested.
Our team of flight deal experts randomly searched for 200 one-way flights through the end of the year and into early 2026 from four of American's largest hubs – Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), Philadelphia (PHL), Miami (MIA), and Charlotte (CLT) – and found that the airline is charging solo travelers higher fares on more than half of them. To be precise, the carrier was charging single passengers higher fares on 104 of the 200 random domestic routes we searched.
Thus far, we’ve only seen these higher American fares on domestic one-way flights – not on roundtrip bookings, giving solo travelers an easy way to avoid paying a penalty for flying alone. We’re also not seeing these price differences creep into international flights or any award tickets for travelers redeeming AAdvantage miles.
While our random research only covered a fraction of American's vast domestic network, it's a significant enough sample to confirm American is deploying this pricing tactic on a far broader basis than what we initially saw from its competitors. And while both Delta and United have since reversed course, American has never stopped.
American Airlines has repeatedly ignored requests for comment on this pricing scheme.
Still, American has gone far further than any other airline. Before it pulled the fares that pushed solo travelers into a pricier ticket, Delta only deployed that structure on a few dozen domestic routes that we could find. United briefly resumed charging solo travelers higher fares this week (before backtracking again), but only on select routes and dates – namely, for trips within the next 30 days.
But at American, we're seeing a gulf in fares between solo travelers and groups regardless of route, time of year, travel date, day of week. American is charging solo travelers more from all its biggest hubs, whether they're flying across the country, hopping on a leisure-heavy route down to Florida, or a flight more likely to be targeting business travelers like to Chicago or Atlanta. It's present on mainline flights and regional routes operated by American Eagle.
This dynamic was most prevalent in Charlotte and Philadelphia, where 66% and 60% of the domestic one-way flights we searched, respectively, yielded higher fares for single passengers. Regardless of where you depart from, some examples are astounding.
For instance, a single passenger searching for a flight from Miami to Louisville (SDF) later this year might see $404 one way.
But bump that exact same search up to two passengers, and the price is suddenly $267 per person for the same standard economy fare. Plus, there's now an option to book an even cheaper, $249 basic economy ticket that didn't appear when searching for just one passenger.
The same pattern plays out searching from Charlotte (CLT) to Austin (AUS) this fall, which pulls up an outrageous $504 one-way fare for a standard economy ticket …
… unless you search for two passengers, in which case the price per ticket drops by a third to just $338 for that exact same economy fare. Again, there's an even cheaper basic economy fare available when you search for two passengers that doesn't appear when searching for just one.
While our random searches of 200 one-way routes may not capture the full breadth of American's network, it's evidence that this pricing penalty for solo travelers is far more widespread than many travelers (including us) realized. That may be a reflection of the fact that American has been doing this for a while.
The social media account xJonNYC – a plugged-in aviation insider with deep connections at American Airlines who regularly breaks news long before sites like ours – relayed last week that American had apparently begun charging solo travelers higher fares in select markets “more than a year ago.”
“It's the new way to get business travelers to pay more than leisure travelers who typically travel in groups or have a weekend stayover, and it's a pretty core element of AA's new ‘pricing strategy',” he posted, relaying information from an internal source. Thrifty Traveler has not been able to independently verify that claim.
“The airline would probably rather describe it as discounting for leisure travel ;),” he added.
They've done that by writing rules into the lower-priced fares explicitly requiring at least two adults on the reservation. Search for just one passenger, and you'll skip right past that better deal and automatically bump up to the pricier fare.
Whenever it happened, that's a significant change in how airlines set airfare prices with absolutely no explanation, transparency, or accountability. And while it may have been designed to get more money out of business travelers who can afford to pay more, everyone from solo travelers to friends planning a group trip together (but booking airfare separately) are paying the price.
Bottom Line
Forget hit-or-miss: Our research suggests that American is charging higher fares on more than half of its domestic flights.
While this tactic is currently contained to just half of American's domestic one-way flights from major hubs, who knows whether that will expand to even more flights, roundtrip bookings, and even international routes? American isn't saying.
