<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">One thing that I have never understood, perhaps it is because the system does not support, is even when a flight is full enough with enough revenue to cover its costs why do last minute tickets cost the most. If you had a flight at 80% the day before it leaves, that was already in the black why not sell the remaining seats at the best price you can get, as the incremental cost of these is minimal. I suppose they do this to a certain extent with the Wednesday web specials, but it would be nice to see it more often. </font>
Because if you
must go, then you'll be willing to pay the premium (i.e. the supposed 'last-minute business travellers'), instead of the 'lets show up and the airport and see where we can go for the cheapest'.
I think its crazy-speak as well (i.e. if its 10 minutes before departure, and a plane is leaving with empty seats
why not allow me to standby on any fare in order to free up an additional seat later on in the day)... Then again, 'because if people wanted to standby, then they would pay a premium for the ticket'.
This then begs the question - what are the successful airline business models doing? Compare and contrast RyanAir with America West.
RyanAir charges a premium for walk-up fares (i.e. whereas they might offer STN-DUB for 99p if you book 4 weeks in advance, the walk-up fare might push 45-140GBP [checked it for o/w tommorow]), and they make money.
AmericaWest takes pride in not always being the cheapest for the in-advance flights, but brags about having the cheapest walk-up and business-class fares. They -almost- make money (but that might be because of additional cost due to their FF program, actually having a business class and associated lounges, etc...)
Now which one is better... I would choose the former.