The 400% Flight Markup: How Your Passport Flips the Travel Script

Would you book a one-way ticket to Europe to save $8,000 on business class flights? In this revealing episode, discover why airlines charge Americans up to 400% more than Europeans for identical premium seats—and the perfectly legal strategy savvy travelers use to beat this system. Meanwhile, producer Nathaniel explains the counterintuitive reason Gen Z is flocking to solo travel: it's not despite the loneliness epidemic but because of it, creating more meaningful connections than traveling with friends. Between Southwest's sudden abandonment of its 50-year free baggage policy and details on entering the luxury cruise giveaway (now confirmed: balcony cabin!), learn why the travel industry's conventional wisdom might be costing you both money and authentic experiences in 2025.

Welcome to No Tourists Allowed, a podcast where two recognized travel industry executives with a combined 71 years on the inside of travel and technology give up their secrets to the thing everyone wants to do. Travel better, pay less, and see more of the world. Here are your hosts, Mike Putman and James Ferrara.

Mike Putman: Good day, everyone. I'm Mike Putman.

James Ferrara: And I'm James Ferrara. Welcome to No Tourists Allowed. Mike, it's great to be back on our regular schedule after our brief hiatus of holidays and travels.

There is a lot going on in the news and a lot going on here at No Tourists Allowed as we try to give travelers a better way to travel, as we try to give some advice to make travel more meaningful, more authentic, and more memorable.

Mike Putman: And enjoyable.

James Ferrara: And enjoyable. This isn't a lecture.

Mike Putman: And cost effective.

James Ferrara: And cost effective. It's a tall order.

The 2025 Luxury Cruise Giveaway

To help with that, every season we seem to do a big giveaway and this season is no different. Last week we announced for the first time that our 2025 winter into spring season will include a giveaway of a luxury cruise for two.

We are going to tease out the details over a couple of weeks. We would like to add this week that it is a luxury cruise for two in a balcony cabin, so you have space to go outdoors and get a bit of a view. The question is, a view of what? We will get to that next week.

Mike Putman: That's enough. That's enough.

James Ferrara: He's known for spilling the beans, so I would have gone all the way there, but Mike stopped me. How do you get in on this drawing? You go to notouristsallowed.com, our website, and you look for the giveaway entry.

If you're finding this on YouTube, you'll see it in the description. If you're listening on a regular podcast download because you subscribe, thank you. We really love you. But go to the website, No Tourists Allowed, and look for the giveaway on the homepage or the giveaway tab. It's in a couple of different places.

You simply answer a few questions as a regular listener. The more questions you answer there, the more entries you get into the drawing. You can redo it every week after every episode. You can go back and enter again and get more points into the drawing.

Mike Putman: Absolutely. We've gamified it for you. You'll need to listen in each week in order to get the clues for the questions that we may be asking you.

You can register, as James said, each week and get an additional chance or sometimes even more than one chance to put your name in the hat and win this beautiful vacation. This one is a stunner. You definitely want to pay attention.

This is a big opportunity for you to win. In past seasons, we gave away a Virgin Voyages cruise for two and an all-inclusive stay in Jamaica. We've given away some great stuff and this one might top them all.

Evolving Revenue Models in the Airline Industry

One of the things we wanted to cover with you guys this week is some really interesting intel in the airline space. The airline space is always interesting to talk about. If you follow the stocks of the US carriers, it's a very volatile business.

If you look at the stocks over the period of time that these companies have been public, they have lost a considerable amount of money. But when they do make money, like last year, they made quite a bit of money. It's got a really nice bounce back effect.

If you're one of those stock speculators, there are going to be ebbs and flows of stock prices for airlines that outpace the norm of the Dow because there are a lot of things that can affect the earnings. You'll see the prices all over the board, so there can be some opportunities there.

The big turnaround in the last couple of years has come from a couple of things. One particularly is unbundling the prices and getting into NDC, new distribution content, fare families, and separating the costs of things.

Paying for premium seating and paying for additional luggage really changed the revenue model for airlines. Also, the big slingshot return of travel after the pandemic has been a boom for airlines for a couple of years too.

Policy Changes at Southwest Airlines

James Ferrara: One of the stalwarts in the airline industry that didn't modify their business model until today is Southwest Airlines. With Southwest, you could bring your checked luggage on at no additional cost.

I think you were allowed two pieces per person, whereas all the other major carriers and low-cost carriers would charge you for that privilege. The announcement came out today that effective May 1st, they will begin charging for baggage if you buy a certain fare type.

This is probably going to change the behavior of a lot of Americans who were choosing Southwest just for the point of being able to take their luggage.

Mike Putman: On top of that, Southwest has announced that in the second half of this year, they will begin charging for assigned seating and premium seats. They're basically adopting the model that the rest of the industry has been working on. They were kind of a last holdout there.

That's for flights they'll start selling the second half of this year for flights starting in 2026. Big changes at Southwest. They used to be known as a low-cost carrier, but if you compare their pricing today, they're really not.

They may be trying to get back to compete at that level by possibly lowering their fares going forward and subsidizing those lower fares with additional ancillary revenue opportunities like bags and seats. There are some decent opportunities ahead for Southwest to kick back into their old model somewhat.

The Increasing Cost of Seat Assignments

One other thing I wanted to share is that a friend of mine purchased a ticket on United. He shared with me a couple of days ago that his type of fare did not come with a seat. He asked me some questions about it.

I explained to him he does have a seat on the plane, he just does not have an assigned seat. He went on to show me his app. He was flying an hour and twenty-minute flight from Greenville to New York.

The cost to get an assigned coach seat was going to be seventy-eight dollars, which seems exorbitant. He paid three hundred dollars for a one-way flight, which seemed to be market priced, but it did not come with a reserved seat.

These airlines are really ratcheting up the cost of selecting your seat to the point that it's becoming a large portion of your overall travel cost should you elect to take a seat.

James Ferrara: That's why you need a good travel advisor. You need a good professional travel advisor to be watching out for you, especially with those details and with a little insider knowledge about what's included in your fare and what's not.

This ensures you're making valid comparisons and you're not being hoodwinked. Mike, in addition to that, there's been some interesting data and pricing from Europe. As frequent travelers, we really want some good strategies in purchasing air.

Strategies for Premium International Airfare

Mike Putman: Absolutely. I want to give a shout-out to a company called Passport Premiere. We're not affiliated with them and they don't pay us any advertising money, but you can sign up for a newsletter at their site.

They only do this three or four times a year, so you're not going to get a bunch of emails. They monitor the marketplace and tell you when there are buying opportunities to buy business class and first-class seats.

They sent out a message earlier this week that was really interesting. They have a way to look at the inventory that's available on flights in advance so they can see how many seats are available in premium cabins.

They're finding that there happens to be a glut of business class and first-class seats going eastbound to Europe right now. But the interesting thing is there are not any significant discounts.

For those of you who've never flown business class, a lot of people refer to this as first class. That's actually not exactly true. There are some carriers that still keep three and four classes of service: economy, premium economy, business, and first class.

Generally, a business class seat would be the width of a first-class seat on a US flight, but it would also generally have lie-flat seats and an elevated level of service.

The second interesting thing this organization found was that flights originating in Europe right now are about 300% to 400% less than what the same flight would cost if you started your travel in the US.

Let me explain a little bit more. If you were to buy a ticket from Los Angeles to Frankfurt in business class, it would be around ten thousand dollars.

But you could buy that same ticket, business class, starting in Frankfurt to Los Angeles and back to Frankfurt, and it might be three thousand dollars. That is a significant difference in cost for a very long flight.

This newsletter is challenging why the US carriers are charging such a premium to people who want to originate their flights in the U.S. when it is the same carrier and the same seat.

I've got a real-world example. Miami to Istanbul on an American Airlines plated flight is $10,913. That same flight, similar dates, beginning your flight in Istanbul, is two thousand six hundred and thirty dollars. That is a huge difference.

How do you beat the system? How do you win at this game? One thing you can do is get a one-way ticket to Europe and begin your journeys in Europe. One-way tickets used to be really expensive, but today they're not quite so expensive.

This might be a good opportunity to use your frequent flyer points because you're generally not penalized for taking a one-way flight using points. Then, originate your flight from somewhere in Europe back to the US.

You might be saying, "That's great, but that'll only give me a one-way back to the US. What do I do with the other one-way?" The idea is you can generally change these flights a year out to use the second half of that leg.

In some cases, you can even change the destination. The train network is really good over there and there are a bunch of low-cost carriers, so you can get anywhere once you're in Europe at a very low cost. Then you can use that to get back to Europe and begin again.

If you're a premium flyer and you don't like paying the really high prices charged to people who originate flights in America, that's a strategy you should think about.

James Ferrara: It takes a little work and thinking, but it is well worth it when you think about the savings. It helps us level the playing field a little bit.

There are good business reasons why airlines make flights available in other countries. It even works within states. Sometimes when you book a flight or a cruise, you're asked what your state of residence is because there are promotional fares for certain populations.

There are nuances in the travel industry that not everyone is aware of. Sometimes you can legally and fairly take advantage of these things.

Mike Putman: There is certainly nothing illegal or immoral about the strategy. You just have to know what's going on. One way to do that is to listen to podcasts like No Tourists Allowed.

Nobody wants to go on a cheap vacation, but everybody wants to go on a trip that's high value. Even if you're staying at the Four Seasons or Ritz-Carlton, you don't want the guy sitting beside you in a lounge chair saying he paid five hundred dollars a night while you paid eight hundred dollars for the same room.

The Rise of Solo and Pet-Friendly Travel

James Ferrara: I always say I'm willing to pay, but not overpay. There's another phenomenon I think our listeners might be interested in regarding the behavior of customers: the rise of solo travel.

To talk about that, we have our producer, Nathaniel DeSantis. Welcome, Nathaniel.

Nathaniel DeSantis: Thank you guys for having me on. I think this might be my second appearance on the podcast.

James Ferrara: We can't always get you to come out from behind the curtain. We want to thank you. You're the guy who makes it happen, makes us seem more professional, and does the editing, music, and production.

Since some of you are watching us on YouTube, you can see that Nathaniel is of a certain generation, a little different from Mike and me. He brings an interesting perspective. You were quoting an article to us earlier. Tell us a little about it.

Nathaniel DeSantis: Airbnb released a trends report for 2025. We were talking off-mic and we think this might be a generational thing. They found that there's a 90% growth in solo searches this year.

Individual one-person travelers are trying to find destinations, and they average a 17-night trip. Of those solo searches, there's been a 40% increase in searches for trips with pets this spring.

Approximately 75% of those solo travelers are Gen Zers. We're seeing a younger demographic of people choosing to travel by themselves. This was already a big trend in 2024.

James Ferrara: It's interesting because we've been hearing it from customers too. There is also 25% of the market that is not Gen Z. We see older folks who have been divorced or widowed traveling solo as well.

Some people think solo travel is sad, but in fact, this kind of travel is very adventurous. You meet a lot of people traveling alone. I always felt that people kind of look over and adopt you.

It's sometimes easier to meet people when you're alone because if you're with a bunch of friends, people don't break in on your conversation. There is a sense of adventure and independence. You are free to pursue your personal passions.

Accommodating Solo Travelers in the Cruise Industry

Mike Putman: Even to the point that one of our travel partners, Riviera Travel, which operates river cruises throughout Europe, shared that they have six or eight cruises a year that are only for singles.

Generally, you can go on a regular cruise as a single and typically pay 200% of the per-person rate for double occupancy. The cabins are designed for two people. Instead of charging a fee per cabin, they charge a fee per person.

Riviera Travel has these sailings where it's only 120% of the double person fare. It gives you an opportunity to travel as a single and not pay a big penalty.

The representative was saying they had a loyal customer who wanted to bring a friend on a singles cruise. He said that's fine if they stay in a different cabin, but there can't be two people in one cabin. They want to keep the integrity of the solo cruise.

James Ferrara: There are other accommodations suppliers make for singles. Typically things are priced double occupancy, so you have to pay twice that amount. But then they run promotions.

Instead of 100% penalties, you might only pay 50% more or 25% more. I've even seen them waive the double occupancy requirement entirely. They call that a "no single occupancy penalty," but they're pretty rare.

NCL actually has solo cabins. They introduced them, and other cruise lines like Royal Caribbean have followed suit. The cabins are smaller and tend to be inside cabins.

On NCL, they come with a central lounge. All the solo cabins are around a social lounge and they have a social program for the people who stay there. It's more and more popular. Providers that cater to younger people often have accommodations for singles or they'll match you up with somebody.

Nathaniel DeSantis: Like Contiki?

James Ferrara: Contiki is a big one.

Nathaniel DeSantis: Is that like the Tinder for travel?

James Ferrara: You have to be 35 or under. I keep trying to get on a Contiki trip, but they stop me at the motorcoach door. Nathaniel, you've traveled solo. Where have you gone?

The Gen Z Experience: Connection and Budgeting

Nathaniel DeSantis: The most recent one I did was over in Spain. I also met up with my sister and her husband. I think there are two factors that lead to solo travel for my generation.

COVID hit at a really bad time in our lives. One of the implications is that a lot of people lost out on experiences. A lot of my friends missed out on spring breaks, formals, and summer vacations. Now they have an income and they can afford to do it.

For me, that was the impetus for why I decided to do three weeks in Spain. I was stuck at home for a year and a half. We're young, we want to experience life, and there's no better time than now.

The other factor is that there is a real loneliness problem with my generation because we're stuck behind our phones. There's something liberating about going to a place you've never been and just talking to people.

I found that when I was doing solo travel, I talked to more people than I would at home. It might just be the person checking out my food or someone on the street. It leads to a conversation and it's a very connecting experience.

There's something about becoming an adult and just talking to people who have experienced a completely different life in a different country. You don't get that on Instagram or TikTok.

The increase in pet searches also ties into COVID because many people got pets to deal with loneliness. It's a 15-year commitment. If you want to travel, your options are bring them with you, pay for boarding, or take them to your parents.

I live in Atlanta and everyone my age has a dog. The amount of people my age with dogs is crazy. I think it's a lot of the symptoms of the times. I am definitely an advocate for solo travel because you learn a lot about yourself.

James Ferrara: What you just said is a beautiful expression of the power and value of travel. Imagine travel can help with loneliness, provide adventure, and help you grow. That's what No Tourists Allowed is all about.

Nathaniel DeSantis: Gen Z travelers are okay with three-star hotels, but they spend the most when they travel out of any generation, with an average of $11,500 per trip.

It's interesting from an industry perspective because these buyers are willing to spend on experiences, not the hotel. They'll stay in a three-star hotel if it means they can do all the other cool things. I think we will see an uptake in that.

James Ferrara: We will take that up on another episode. Travel in 2025 is going to be less about the places people go and more about the moments they are seeking.

Nathaniel, it's a real treat to have you out from behind the curtain. We're going to do that again.

Nathaniel DeSantis: Thank you guys for having me on. I'm glad I could talk directly to the audience. Long-time listeners will recognize my voice because of the original intro. I'll hand it back to you guys to continue the discussion.

James Ferrara: Nathaniel has such a good voice for radio. Mike, you have a good face for radio, actually.

Mike Putman: Thank you. I think you're supposed to say it the other way.

Well guys, that's all we have time for this week. Thank you so much for listening in. We certainly appreciate you spending time with us as we try to give you helpful tips on how to travel better.

Don't forget to go to our website, notouristsallowed.com, and register for the mystery giveaway. Please share with your friends if you like this podcast. Share the story and hopefully they'll join the family.

James Ferrara: Thank you all. Thank you, Mike. Thank you, audience. And we'll see you in the next episode. No tourists allowed.

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