Originally Posted by
emma dog
That one's easy... through years of experience AA has learned that on X route, the only people who want to fly at the last minute HAVE to fly at the last minute and they are willing to pay more. Dropping the price doesn't increase passengers and revenue in excess to what they lose when they no longer capture the revenue from price insensitive travelers.
I fly the ege route a lot--and if the skiing is good there are many that would like to fly at the last minute--especially after a snow storm--and will not pay the last minute ridiculous fare--so the aircraft will fly out with empty seats for no reason.
The same can be said of many other routes--last minute trips to the Caribbean, Hawaii or Las Vegas.
The pricing structure of trying to gouge the last minute traveler has obviously not worked--or they would not be losing money year--they obviously need to come up with a new pricing structure--and do not assume just because they do it--it works.