Here’s why travel experts say not to book flights on your mobile phone

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The cost of travel has I jumped this year. Two years into the confusing pandemic, high travel demand and low staff availability have inflated airfares across the board, but as travel experts note, Those who book flights on their mobile phones are the hardest hitbeing more likely to pay more.

This is a particularly troubling statement, seeing as we see that in the current climate, up to 48% of adults aged 20-40 in the US are shopping on their phones – a number well above the global average of 34%. The data, obtained from a survey of 3250 US customers carried out by Klarnais exactly what worries analysts:

The hidden dangers of drip pricing when shopping for flights

Drip pricing is a term used in the industry to refer to the notorious Addition fee on flights. While the much cheaper ticket fare is usually shown on the first page, this is usually a ‘starting price’, or just the seat itself: carry-on baggage, in-flight entertainment, meals and seat selection. It all comes at an extra price, and it’s usually a handicap.

During the buying process, while the customer is going through the check boxes, adding their travel essentials or customizing their trip, The cost starts to increase dramatically. In fact, adding baggage can be on some flights More expensive From the standard economy seat. Interestingly, heavy phone use may be a contributing factor to overcharging for some.

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Pymnts.com, a website dedicated to analyzing the role of payments in new technology, The majority of purchases of travel services were made on a mobile device In February 2022. As proven before Pymnts.commore than half (51.4%) of travel purchases in the US were made on mobile in February of this year.

The data consists of February alone, but we believe the trend has not reversed based on broke world records Earnings reported by some airlines, mobile phone houses. As early as 2021, a study was conducted by Marketing Science confirmed Shoppers are urged to make ‘suboptimal’ choices in ‘drip pricing situations’.

Less likely to compare airfares in drip pricing situations

Note that travelers usually compare initial prices between competing carriers as opposed to the final price, which is higher most of the time. Regarding this phenomenon, Shel Santana, co-author of the study and assistant professor of marketing at Bentley University, stated that companies that adopt a “drip pricing” strategy usually win.

“The starting price is almost always lower than the all-inclusive price of the competitorSantana was quoted as saying, referring to the never-ending battle between low-cost, drip-rate airlines and other full-service carriers:But once they start adding amenities like checked bags, seat options, etc., this difference in price (across companies) diminishes and sometimes reverses.“.

As Santana says, Telephone shopping influences customers to accept any additional charges that were applied to the original productdue to restarting the entire process, the decision which usually entails losing all the information provided, or opening a new tab to find cheaper options, is seen as a waste of time and a bigger hassle (in a small screen).

Booking flights can take several long minutes, as you add your name, personal information, passport details and choices, so give in halfway to the cost of “add-ons”, under the idea that there is no way to circumvent it, and that full-service airlines are the choice. Always the most expensive Frustrating to many.

Customers end up making more final purchases on their mobile phones

The researchers were surprised to learn that even after the final price hike, customers who buy tickets on their phones were very “unwilling” to compare different providers:Consumers notice the higher research costs associated with initiating their own decision-making process, and they believe they will save less money than they actually will.”Santana added.

Just think for a moment: How often do you switch between apps when booking a flight? There’s an airline app that can be calculated, and then there’s also one Booking.com or AirBnB When it comes to lodging, the calendar app where you’ll need to check your availability, and of course flight search tools like Google flights or Skyscanneramong other things.

This is it Lots of tabs Active on your phone’s browser simultaneously, and no matter how fast you use your fingers, the chances of you ignoring relevant information, or even forgetting that you had a secondary comparison tab open in the first place are much higher. On larger screens, the decision-making process is more comfortable.

Feeling comfortable, it may help shoppers to think clearly before reaching for their wallets. There’s an earlier study to confirm this: In 2018, the Marketing Journal analyzed customer behavior from more than a million sessions on a shopping site, and reported their findings to us. Those who made purchases from their phones paid higher fees.

In addition, the higher conversion rate was more noticeable with higher priced products, a category that includes airline tickets. In conclusion, Santana advised fellow travelers to “always shop for desktop travel”:I like to open several tabs at once and switch between them to make sure I understand the differences in pricing and drivers across companies“.

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This article originally appeared TravelOffPath.com