Edelman thinks that restaurants do not do the analysis required to figure out whether enough customers who visit the restaurant using a Groupon come back and pay full price in sufficient numbers to cover their fixed costs.

FORBES: Will Groupon Survive Until 2016?

By forcing the carriers to pool their operations and offer a common price for the full journey, such incentives disappear, and the ticket costs less as a result.

ECONOMIST: Airline alliances

The costs of chartering the entire volume of SS2 for science would be broadly comparable to price charged to a full cabin of tourists, Mr Pomerantz said.

BBC: Virgin spaceship aims to be science lab