Actually, the airlines use rather complex revenue
models to set fares. Our resident LNG might even be
familiar with the models. Essentially, the goal is to
maximize revenue for each flight.

This is because the cost to operate any individual
flight is pretty closed to being fixed. The
incremental cost of adding or savings from subtracting
another passenger is pretty low. A little more fuel,
another pack of pretzels, and another can of diet
coke.  :D

So the airlines don't care if the plane is full or
half-empty, they only care about how much money was
collected before takeoff. If it is half full of
business passengers, the revenue total is higher than
a plane full of tightwad tourists!

Of course, this economic model results in considerable
confusion among the airline customers....

Cheers,
David H.


--- Mark Goldsmith <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> just us lurkers....i keep checking the American
> Airlines' website every day
> to monitor fares from Newark-Miami-Grand Cayman and
> back for a five day  trip
> this August with my wife and son.
>
> i swear that the airlines must use a more complex
> algorithim for figuring
> their fares than Uwatec uses for dive computers.
> the fares change every  day up
> and down like it was the commodity market for wheat
> futures, no rhyme or
> reason.  if they moved in one direction, up or down
> it might make some  sense,
> but they're all over the place...i can't figure it
> out.
>
> regards feesh
>
> mark


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