Airline Ticket Pricing

By Bobby Ivie

Unless you have been completely isolated from all forms of advertising the past couple of years, you probably know that discount airfares are available to travelers. However, long gone is the era of thinking that the best deals are available simply by calling the airline and booking a flight. This article will help you find more affordable ways to engage in air travel.

Many options have become available to the general public for getting the best discounted airfares for their favorite carriers.  Millions of dollars are spent annually advertising these opportunities.  Unfortunately, this has all created a very confusing experience for most fliers who are just after the best deal on airline tickets without having to take out a loan from the bank.  Many web sites promise to have the lowest prices, but the only way to know for sure is to take a little time to compare them to each other.

The world of airline ticket prices is confusing at best with the complex workings of three very unpredictable factors:  inventory, demand and competition.  Inside the airline industry, these three things combine to form what they call "yield management".  In more understandable terms, what that means is this...

There are only a certain number of airplanes, and seats within those planes that make up the inventory.  There is also a finite number of flights that the airlines can fly into any given airport.  These things are the inventory, or supply, that is available to travelers; or the amount of available tickets.

For example, if Southwest Airlines has 10 planes, each transporting around 100 passengers going into Los Angeles, they have an inventory of 1000 ticketable seats and 10 flights.  Now, if the amount of customers they have is 1200, prices are going to go up.  If only 800 passengers want to fly to Los Angeles, prices get dropped and travelers get discounts.

However, if the 5PM flight from Houston is the most popular, the prices for that particular flight will still likely go up, or not be discounted, even if there are only 800 total passengers overall.

So supply and demand is basically what is going on in the world or air fare, no matter what complex algorythms go on behind the scenes.  What is important for you to know is just the basics, not how they actually reach the prices.</p>

You would think that the airlines would have this down to a science already, but they do not.  They have the ability to change the pricing of any given flight, any given ticket at any time to try and make sure the flight is as full as possible.  It costs the same to fly from Chicago to Los Angeles with an empty plane as it does with a full one, so it makes economic sense to the airlines to fill them.  All of the airlines use centralized reservation services and they are updated constantly.  This is where the traveler can benefit.

On the Internet, you can find many sites that have access to a second level of this reservation service, that while not updated as frequently, still updates often.  By searching for your desired flight over time, you will see the price changes that happen and be able to choose the best deal.  Make sure to use more than one online service and comparison shop between them.  They do not all use the same databases and wholesalers, to prices can vary from one site to the other.

--
Bobby Ivie is the owner of http://NothinButInfo.com, http://BestHotelRatings.com, http://BestRestaurantRatings.com, http://FishingHuntingCamping.com, http://Fishing-Articles.net and http://NetBizWorkshop.net. He makes his living online - http://NetMarketingMoney.com This article may be reprinted as long as the resource box stays intact.
--