Post
I otherwise like Aegean Airlines but their "40% discount for children" is a scam and a #darkpattern and I finally got sufficiently pissed off I’m going to expose it.
tl;dr: The "40% off" is based on a fake fare, artificially inflated so it can then be discounted. The effective discount is 14% for 1 adult + 1 child, 0% for 2 adults + 1 child, and the fare actually *increases* for adult:children ratios > 2:1 with no opt-out.
[1/5]
@leaverou I agree that this is a dark pattern, I have also run into this before. It's confusing enough that I kept some notes, here's a slightly edited version.
Aegean ticket optimization:
- The "Family" fare is more expensive for adults than "Light", but has 40% discount for children
- It's not possible to select "Light" for the adult and "Family" for the child when booking through the website, so it's more expensive overall
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@leaverou
- It's not possible either to book only for the child and select "Family"
- It's possible to book with the Aegean pass, get "Family" with 40% discount only for the child, so probably that's what we should do
- There is 50% discount on baggage for the "Family" fare, this is also available when booking on the phone
- This is all only worth it if the saving is more than the 23 euro per flight fee for booking through the phone, but that's typically the case when we book to go for Christmas
Continued from https://front-end.social/@leaverou/115259476715556155
Exhibit A: ATH-VIE on Sep 30
2 adults: Flex is $319.88/pax
1 adult + 1 kid: Flex → Family, now $362/pax (+13%). Flex is no longer bookable.
So how much is the actual discount?
Flex for 2 pax: $319.88 * 2 = $639.76
Family for 1 adult + 1 kid: $362.13 * 1.6 = $579.408
2 - 579.408 / 319.88 = 18.9% off, less than half the advertised discount.
…But wait, why is the total higher? [2/5]
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