Originally Posted by
cordelli
In many cases, airplanes are flying with very few empty seats. There is no need for the airlines to give away empty seats to priceline at bargain basement prices, they know they will probably be able to sell those seats themselves.
Until capacity drops quite a bit, the pool of seats priceline will have to draw from will remain pretty slim, certainly not like it use to be.
I think you just have a miswording here. I believe you mean until capacity
increases quite a bit...
I agree that airlines have dropped available seats as fast as possible to match demand, but there are many new competitors that continue to come in the market. I have been impressed with the seat growth to Hawaii (while unexpected) such as the new CO flight and Alaska's presence. Virgin America (who participates in NYOP) and Jet Blue (who does not participate in NYOP) have continued to add destinations.
I think the message is still the same, if a desired date/flight pair is selling for much higher than the lowest retail price that is found in the route, Priceline is a very good option. I think Priceline is getting inventory even if it is the last few seats on the plane (and simultaneously it is also available via retail). Whoever sells the seats first, gets the win.
Rasheed