Pickpocket Pricing

David J. Danto

Travel thoughts in my own, personal opinion

eMail: ddanto@IMCCA.org Follow Industry News: @NJDavidD on

Pickpocket Pricing April 2026

Or, When Airlines Offer You “Choice,” Watch Your Wallet

There are two ways an airline can raise prices. One way is blunt and honest. The other is dressed up in marketing language, smiling pleasantly and complimenting you while it lifts your watch and picks your wallet out of your pocket.

One way is direct. It tells you plainly that something now costs more than it did before. Nobody enjoys it, but at least it has the decency to be honest.

The other way is the airline industry’s favorite sleight of hand. It takes something that used to be included, strips it out, renames the stripped-down product as a new “option,” and then asks you to applaud the increase in “choice.”

United has now given us both versions at once.

The first one is the simple price increase. Checked bag fees are up. If you are flying within the U.S., Mexico, Canada, or Latin America, the first checked bag now costs more, and the second one does too. United’s basic explanation is that fuel prices and operating costs have risen, and they want to recover some of that money.

Fine. I don’t like it. Most travelers won’t like it. But there is a certain rough honesty to it. They are not pretending this is a gift. They want more revenue, so they are charging more for something that used to cost less. That is pricing. It may be painful, but it is clear.

Then we get to the second trick, and this is where the airline pulls out its annoying doublespeak playbook.

United is now introducing more restrictive fares in premium economy and business class. The airline will tell you this is about giving travelers more options. That is the part where you should place one hand on your wallet and the other on your blood pressure medication.

Because this is not really about “more options” in the way normal human beings use that phrase.

Real unbundling would work like this. Imagine a business class fare that used to cost $10,000 and include lounge access, seat selection, flexibility, better baggage allowance, and the usual premium treatment. Then the airline says, “For travelers who do not want all of that, we are now offering a stripped-down version for $5,000.” You may still object, but at least there is a visible bargain there. You are clearly paying less because you are clearly getting less.

That would be a genuine choice.

What airlines usually mean by “choice” is something much different. What they really mean is that the fare you used to buy will slowly become less complete, and the things that used to come with it will be pulled apart and turned into separate upsell opportunities. The airline may not do the entire trick on day one, and it may not admit to the destination while it is still on the runway, but the direction is obvious enough.

The game is not, “Here is a premium fare for less money if you want fewer perks.” The game is, “Here is what used to be a premium fare, but now with fewer things included. If you want the experience you thought premium already meant, you can pay extra to rebuild it.”

That is not unbundling. That is increasing prices by disassembly.

This idea reminded me of a United flight I took many years ago with my two children, who were 10 and 8 at the time and are now in their 30s. The three of us had all been upgraded to business class on a three-class airplane (which is a long, different story of rerouting nightmares.) During the meal service they were happily being fed desserts with ice cream, and one of them asked for chocolate syrup. The flight attendant’s response was unforgettable: I’m sorry, chocolate syrup is only available to people flying in first class.

Think about the ridiculous pettiness of that for a moment. They had the chocolate syrup. It was right there on the airplane. It would have cost them essentially nothing to put a little on a child’s dessert. But the point was not the syrup. The point was to create a tiny line of separation and enforce it with all the joyless precision of a medieval toll collector. That is exactly the mentality behind this kind of unbundling. We could easily give that to you, but we are not going to unless you pay more. It is petty, performative, and designed to remind you that the airline is always looking for one more lever to pull.

What United is doing here is the same old dinner trick restaurants have been using for years. The establishment does not lower the price of the entree and say dessert is optional. Instead, it quietly shrinks the entree, takes away the side dish, removes the bread basket, and then announces with great fanfare that restaurant patrons now have the flexibility to customize their meal experience. By the time you are done re-adding what used to arrive automatically, you are paying more than before and being told you should feel empowered.

Airlines have become masters of this language. They never say, “We are charging more for less.” They say, “We are increasing flexibility.” They never say, “We are taking a complete product and hollowing it out.” They say, “We are giving customers more ways to tailor their journey.” And it’s only a matter of time before United suggests the change was made in response to customer requests – which is true only when the customers in question are members of their management team.

What makes this especially insulting is that United is doing it in premium cabins, the one part of the aircraft where customers are specifically paying to avoid friction, and if I’m being blunt, to avoid this kind of petty BS. People do not spend for premium economy or business class because they crave a more complicated purchasing matrix. They pay because they want comfort, certainty, smoother handling, and fewer little indignities. Nobody books a premium cabin and thinks, “You know what would improve this experience? A menu of small exclusions and add-on decisions.”

And yet here we are.

The bag fee increase may be irritating, but at least it speaks plainly. It says, “Costs are up, so we are charging more.” There is no poetry in that, but there is no disguise either.

The premium-cabin restructuring is more cynical because it comes wrapped in the language of consumer benefit. It asks travelers to believe that taking features away and selling them back in pieces is somehow a service enhancement. It is not. It is a way of redefining the baseline downward while preserving the right to charge upward.

That is why travelers should be far more suspicious of the second move than the first.

A direct fee increase is a punch in the arm. You feel it immediately.

Unbundling and rebundling is the pickpocket in a nice blazer who bumps into you, apologizes, compliments your taste, and walks off with your wallet while assuring you that you now have more options than ever before. The trick is not that the airlines are charging more – it’s that they keep trying to pass it off as giving you more choice.

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This article was written by David Danto and contains solely his own, personal opinions.

All image and links provided above as reference under prevailing fair use statutes.

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