I try to avoid political commentary, but sometimes I just can’t avoid it. The airline industry has always been a tough place to make money, but since 9/11, terrorism fears, long delays in security, and surging oil prices have really … Read More
airline pricing
The real end of the line for airline fees
Back in August, I wrote a post titled “What Other Fees Can Airlines Charge?” Well, as several alert readers pointed out, The Onion has the ultimate answer. When it comes to airlines’ pricing power, the good news is that the … Read More
What other fees can airlines charge?
Bitten by rising fuel costs and a weak economy, airlines are struggling. Naturally, they have turned to their creative pricing departments to design new fees. These fees include checking bags, water, and the extra leg room in exit row seats. … Read More
The Psychology of Price Increases
In last week’s post How to Raise Prices, I referenced two interesting articles on techniques for raising prices, and also suggested using unbundling to differentiate between customers who want maximum value and customers who want minimum price. Today, let’s look … Read More
Airlines Try New Pricing Moves
With high fixed costs and perishable products, airlines have long been the poster child for “yield management”, “revenue management”, and other sophisticated statistical methods for optimizing profit. Or minimizing losses. While travel is up, airlines are still looking for ways … Read More
Bringing Airline Pricing to Sports
That may not sound like progress to some people, but an alert reader sent in this article on a company called StratBridge, which helps professional sports teams optimize ticket prices. Unlike the massive yield management systems in place at the … Read More
Farecast to Offer Pricing Guarantees on Airfares
Back in August, we noted an interesting website called Farecast, which makes predictions about whether airfares will move up, down, or stay the same. This could let buyers lock in low rates if fares are about to increase, or wait … Read More
Airlines Try Again for Price Increase
With passenger loads up, major US airlines are again trying to push through a small fare increase. We noted a failed attempt at a price increase back in August, when oil prices were higher, but important business traffic was probably … Read More
Airlines Can’t Make Price Increase Stick
In routine move, 3 major airlines announced small fare increases, but retracted them when competitors did not follow. This is how prices get “coordinated” across the industry. The interesting piece from the WSJ article is the quote from Morgan Stanley … Read More
Orbitz Pricing: Can Anyone Confirm or Deny?
An alert reader forwarded this post from the On Travel blog, about how online travel site Orbitz could be charging more to users who are logged in and therefore perhaps less price sensitive. An alternative explanation is that the lower … Read More