Gas and Ticket Prices
- Thread starter gabby
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BuffaloJoe
Veteran
Actually in a time of a real shortage price gouging is a good thing. In Arizona when the only two pipleines bringing gas to the valley shut down we had 1970's styled gas lines and gas at $2.00 (when it was $1.30 before). The lines took hours and some serious planning. Many would run out of gas while you waited in line. But some stations charged $3 or $4 had no lines and plenty of gas. People where all over the news screaming gouging but it was a good thing (we are a country of economic nimkinpooops). I'll try and explain. If you didn't have 2-3 hours to wait say a Police Office or Dr headed to Surgery or someone getting married and didn't have enough gas you had an option of paying more and getting the gas, which in many circumstances where worth far more the $3 or $4 dollars. The market is so efficent even in bad times, far better than any person or Gov't. could do by making some "decision" that they think is better.
Great concept DP should use your business theory and call it HCC(HIGH COST CARRIER)
US1YFARE
Veteran
- Mar 31, 2004
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Your inventory department already does that by misrepresenting the actual supply and demand of seats. Your inventory department artificially manipulates the number of seats believed by the public to be available on certain flights so that customers pay higher fares because they think that they will be unable to get on a flight if they wait until the price comes down.
So, yes, US is back to price gouging and it is NOT a good thing.
So, yes, US is back to price gouging and it is NOT a good thing.
They are not price gouging since the price they are offering is the price shown as the normal fare. If they were price gouging, they would be adding another premium onto the price that is shown available without notice.
Now, they are trying to maximize revenue and limit certain fares at certain times of the day. Much like the early bird specials, matinee showings and special offers at the local restaraunt on Tues and Wed. Management knows these are going to be slow times, so they offer specials or discounts to get people to come in at those times. They know there will probably be people who will come in at night and on the weekend anyway and to try to get some more $ flowing during the week, they offer discounts to get people to come in at that time (ie early morning and late night flights). Just because the bar doesnt give 2 for 1 on Fri and Sat night doesnt mean its price gouging. It just means you arent getting a discount that time of the week.
And if US decides to not offer any seats on a particular flight, its their loss if they dont end up selling them right? I was once told by an old inventory guy that he could open up a flight (during spring break) and sell out the entire plane quickly if he offered the lowest bucket, but we'd lose money. Instead he would open it up 0ing out the lowest 3-4 buckets and gradually open it up as they went along. Thats the job of inventory to sell as many seats as they can at the highest price. If they want to block out half the flight now for Nov and end up not selling out, then they'll (in theory) have to be the ones to answer as to why we lost money. I would venture a guess though that once the flights no one wants are sold, more seats would be opened up at the "non gouging" rate = discounted.
US1YFARE
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- Mar 31, 2004
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There are some problems with that Tad. It is very deceptive and deceptive pricing is illegal. What they are doing is telling customers the flight is almost SOLD OUT or is entirely SOLD OUT when in reality it is not. It was very easy to figure this out after speaking to many reservationists and doing a lot of poking on the website.
Scott Kirby (I believe it was him) has already been on record saying "book early, book early, the flights are selling out." Well, in reality, not all flights are selling out and they are providing the customers with an artificial inventory a false sense of insecurity.
When a customer, particularly a leisure traveler, sees that the flight he wants is sold out or nearly sold out, he must either pay the premium fare (which is 3 times higher than WN's by the way) or book another less desirable flight. Your company is providing patently false information to the consumer about flight availability.
What they are doing crosses the line and is wrong, wrong, wrong.
Scott Kirby (I believe it was him) has already been on record saying "book early, book early, the flights are selling out." Well, in reality, not all flights are selling out and they are providing the customers with an artificial inventory a false sense of insecurity.
When a customer, particularly a leisure traveler, sees that the flight he wants is sold out or nearly sold out, he must either pay the premium fare (which is 3 times higher than WN's by the way) or book another less desirable flight. Your company is providing patently false information to the consumer about flight availability.
What they are doing crosses the line and is wrong, wrong, wrong.
flyingcat
Veteran
- Oct 10, 2005
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How reservations agents or people looking on the net interpret only the top buckets being open is up to them, but in no way are the buckets meant to show total inventory.
Everyone does the same thing including Southwest. we do not provide false information because it is not a customers right to know how many seats are open just the price of the available seats. If you don't like it you will have to sue everybody in the airline industry.
Before you go on about how wrong US is, other industries yield manage too
Hotels
Oil companies
Cruises
Rental agencies
Shall I go on?
Everyone does the same thing including Southwest. we do not provide false information because it is not a customers right to know how many seats are open just the price of the available seats. If you don't like it you will have to sue everybody in the airline industry.
Before you go on about how wrong US is, other industries yield manage too
Hotels
Oil companies
Cruises
Rental agencies
Shall I go on?
US1YFARE
Veteran
- Mar 31, 2004
- 3,932
- 54
yield management is very different
When you tell a customer a flight is completely SOLD OUTand it is not, or that there are 2 seats left and there are really 40 seats left, that is deceptive pricing.
yield management is honest and legal...deceptive pricing is another story...if you are so confident what you are doing is OK, then you should have no worries as the complaints roll into the AG, FAA, and FTC.
When you tell a customer a flight is completely SOLD OUTand it is not, or that there are 2 seats left and there are really 40 seats left, that is deceptive pricing.
yield management is honest and legal...deceptive pricing is another story...if you are so confident what you are doing is OK, then you should have no worries as the complaints roll into the AG, FAA, and FTC.
Seatacus
Veteran
Just exactly how do you expect the president to put an end to $4 / gallon gas (if we see it)?
*-
Apparently you've never heard of supply and demand.
Sort of like airline management.
Gas prices aren't too high. If they were, America wouldn't be driving anywhere except to work and the grocery. I see no conservation, no cutting back, not giving up vacations, boating, jet skiing or anything else.
All I see is an America who puts it on a gas card and bitches about it. Then wants the politicians to pander to them and tell big oil to cut it out. Gas is not different than anythng else. When I see America change its driving habits then I'll listen to everyone complain. Until then pay up and allow the oil boys to get rich.
pilot
Apparently you've never heard of supply and demand.
Sort of like airline management.
Gas prices aren't too high. If they were, America wouldn't be driving anywhere except to work and the grocery. I see no conservation, no cutting back, not giving up vacations, boating, jet skiing or anything else.
All I see is an America who puts it on a gas card and bitches about it. Then wants the politicians to pander to them and tell big oil to cut it out. Gas is not different than anythng else. When I see America change its driving habits then I'll listen to everyone complain. Until then pay up and allow the oil boys to get rich.
pilot
If the company only wants to sell 1 seat on a plane, then since its their plane, their service, etc, are they not allowed to sell only 1 seat on the plane? If the other 149 seats go out empty, its their loss. I dont know of anywhere its required that they sell every seat on every plane. If they want to work the inventory to maximize revenue and they are offering seats on the plane (be it at rates you're not currently willing to pay), and it goes out empty, then its their loss isnt it? If the 1 seat they WANT to sell in advance is sold and they've only authorized 1 seat to be sold, then according to inventory, its sold out.
Same thing applies with the cruise lines not having any inside cabins for sale until the end, buy up. All of a sudden, lots of inside cabins open up. If they dont want to offer inside cabins for sale in advance and I dont want to pay for an outside, I make other plans or wait until they open inventory. If its doesnt open before I make plans, someone else will have a chance at them. If the cruise line doesnt want to sell any inside cabins in advance and they dont sell them at the end and I've bought on someone else, their loss. I know that they havent already sold out all cabins in a certain classification 10 months out, but according to their website they are closed. They are holding back. I guess they'll have to be sued too.
Same thing with hotels. Try to book during a holiday and all the special rate rooms are gone, all they have are top floor oceanview. If I dont want to pay, I find something else or wait until they open inventory. They know they'll probably be able to sell the least expensive later, but not the higher priced rooms so if they sell them first, they've got them sold and can still sell the other rooms later. Lets sue.
Rental cars? I just rented one back in June. Sold out for the type I wanted, ridiculous rates until the day before I was leaving and wham, got a bigger car for a lower price than they were offering to begin with (and they were supposedly sold out of just 48 hours before.!) That inventory thing again, and I guess they didnt plan right.
Hmm, seems to be a common thread with all of the travel industry elements....
I was thinking about this last night (I took some cold medicine and then couldnt sleep, quite a restful night, not!). Another scenario that I thought could be in play in some situations is that the final schedule isnt out yet for Nov and they might not be sure if some flights are going to operate with a 319 or 757 so instead of allowing it to be booked for a 757 with 185 seats in coach, they sell it for a 319 and then when the final schedule is loaded about 45 days out, the rest of the seats will open for sale if it is indded going to be a bigger plane. This way they dont have to schedule change and upset the "extra" 60-70 people that cant fit now on the 319. I've seen this quite a bit in advanced schedules where every flight is authorized lower than the plane showing currently flying it holds. When we used to have 737-200s and Fokkers it was quite often that an advanced schedule showing a 737-400 was actually only authorized to 100-115 in case it was going to be flown (when the new skd was finalized) by one of the smaller planes. Sure saves on the frustrated passengers having to be rerouted from their prime flights because of a routing and type of plane change. I'm sure this is one more advantage WN has since their fleet is similar and they dont have as wide a gap in capacity of their planes.
Their 737-300 has 138 seats, where the 737-800 has far more. The gap is no different than that between an 319 and 757, or comparing any other plane(s) with a difference of 30-50 seats. Their advantage is that they don't assign seats, so they don't have to RE-assign seats in the event of equipment swaps.
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