Thomas cook online booking trick- count infant in per person cost

zooba

Hi all,

Long time lurker, first time poster (joined just now!).

So I wanted to know if anyone has noticed this or if it is me going mad.

I was booking a vacation on Thomas Cook for 7 adults 1 infant.

Online it said per person around 620 per person all through the booking process.

When I got the final invoice it said total £4,955.93. Which works out (after infant flight) about 700 per person.

Hence it appears throughout the booking process they counted the infant as a adult to make the per person cost lower.

So when we saw 620 per person it was counting the infant as a fully paid adult but really its 700 per person as the infant should not be counted!

Only if you took total and divided by 7 you would see actually its more than 620 per person if you don't count the

Maybe I was dumb trusting the site, but when it says per person it should be clear its per total number of people (inc infants).

agrinnall

I would say that unless it specifically excluded infants then it would be reasonable to make the assumption that all persons are included (after all, an infant is a person too).

leylandsunaddict

The price per person it gives you is based on the number of people you enter into the search. The system just takes the total price and divides it by that number, to give a from per person cost. The total cost is shown directly over the per person cost, and that's the cost that matters. It should have been obvious just by looking though that 7 x £620 doesn't equal £4,955.93

Caz3121

many packages are priced like this...mix of adults + children + infants...add all the prices together and divide by the number of "persons" to give an average even though the adult fares will be higher than the average and the infant lower with the children probably somewhere in between
You assumed incorrectly that an infant was not a person
If you want to compare holiday prices for adults, maybe check without children/infants first then, once you have decided, add the infant into the search..the total will go up by a minimal amount but the price per person will come down for all the adults

callum9999

leylandsunaddict wrote: »

The price per person it gives you is based on the number of people you enter into the search. The system just takes the total price and divides it by that number, to give a from per person cost. The total cost is shown directly over the per person cost, and that's the cost that matters. It should have been obvious just by looking though that 7 x £620 doesn't equal £4,955.93

You have a ridiculously high expectation of this nation's maths ability if you think it should be "obvious" for the average person to glance at £4,955.93 and instantly know that dividing it by £620 doesn't equal 6.

Even though I'm required to use reasonably complex maths in my job, I'm not sure I would have noticed that if I wasn't specifically looking for it!

leylandsunaddict

callum9999 wrote: »

You have a ridiculously high expectation of this nation's maths ability if you think it should be "obvious" for the average person to glance at £4,955.93 and instantly know that dividing it by £620 doesn't equal 6.

Even though I'm required to use reasonably complex maths in my job, I'm not sure I would have noticed that if I wasn't specifically looking for it!

Just noticed I put 6, it should have been 7. Even so it should be obvious that 7 x £620 doesn't equal £4955.93 simply because 7 x 6 = 42. Maybe that's because I'm of an age where you learned to 'mental arithmetic'?

Agreed, if you look at dividing £4955.93 by 7, then yes, it's not so obvious (or easy).

callum9999

leylandsunaddict wrote: »

Just noticed I put 6, it should have been 7. Even so it should be obvious that 7 x £620 doesn't equal £4955.93 simply because 7 x 6 = 42. Maybe that's because I'm of an age where you learned to 'mental arithmetic'?

Agreed, if you look at dividing £4955.93 by 7, then yes, it's not so obvious (or easy).

You're missing the point. If you try to work out the sum of 7 x £620 then it should be obvious it doesn't equal £4955.93. If you don't specifically try and work it out then it's not.

It's pretty amusing that we're specifically discussing how obvious it is to work out sums, yet you made a mistake and I didn't even notice!

agrinnall

leylandsunaddict wrote: »

Agreed, if you look at dividing £4955.93 by 7, then yes, it's not so obvious (or easy).

I don't agree, it's obvious that 49 / 7 = 7 so if the per person figure didn't start with a 7 then it's clearly wrong. People need to learn to make these sort of estimates at a glance otherwise they are at risk of being ripped off.

PeacefulWaters

It's not a trick though, is it?

joerugby

How would you do it?

(Please show your calculations)

stephb34

zooba wrote: »

Hi all,

Long time lurker, first time poster (joined just now!).

So I wanted to know if anyone has noticed this or if it is me going mad.

I was booking a vacation on Thomas Cook for 7 adults 1 infant.

Online it said per person around 620 per person all through the booking process.

When I got the final invoice it said total £4,955.93. Which works out (after infant flight) about 700 per person.

Hence it appears throughout the booking process they counted the infant as a adult to make the per person cost lower.

So when we saw 620 per person it was counting the infant as a fully paid adult but really its 700 per person as the infant should not be counted!

Only if you took total and divided by 7 you would see actually its more than 620 per person if you don't count the

Maybe I was dumb trusting the site, but when it says per person it should be clear its per total number of people (inc infants).

Its not a trick, its just the computer program gives an average price for how many people you put in the system. When you go through to the final costing page it will tell you how much each adult or child or infant is individually and the final total.
There are so many different prices that this way is the most simplistic, eg 2 adults + 2 kids in one room, the adults will be the same price but the 1st child is generally cheaper than the second. 3 adults in one room all adults the same price but you may get a reduction for the third adult.