Know why your air ticket costs what it costs
Revenue Management 101 — Part 1
Friday evenings are the worst of days to book a flight to literally anywhere! And Monday mornings, just as worse! You know this by now. And if you are like me and many people I know, then you keep an eye on your air-fare, waiting for it to go down. But can we do better at guessing price fluctuations?
You might think there is no rhyme or rhythm to how the ‘airline guys’ jack up the price of your ticket, and why sometimes it is ridiculously low. But for people who run the show behind the screen, it is Science — The science of Yield Management or Revenue Management!
Revenue management or Yield management is an inventory control practice which aims to give the ‘right product at the right price, to the right customer at the right time’
Revenue management was conceptualized in the airlines industry, and was subsequently adopted by many other industries such as fashion industry, groceries, etc.
In the previous article (Part 1a) we looked at what kind of industries Revenue Management principles apply to, and how we get a complimentary business upgrade. In this article we look at why sometimes we are asked to give up our seats before departure.
