While searching for fares to go to Wisconsin to visit my wife over my October break, a certain airline, let’s call them “Top Left Airlines”, is offering a one-way ticket from Elmira, NY to Milwaukee, WI for $482. Being the genius that I am, I decided to check what that same flight would cost if I added a return flight. The answer: $158. Yes, you read that right. The one-way fare was more than three times the price of the round-trip fare. The outbound flights were identical.

I was working on something clever to say about that, perhaps something about how price discrimination usually works. However, I realized that the absolute stupidity of that pricing scheme will be obvious to anyone who might read this blog; therefore, there really isn’t anything more I really need to say.

I will add that it is generally a bad idea for businesses to insult the intelligence of their customers. It looks like I won’t be flying “Top Left Airlines” for this trip.