Is Gary a VFTW hypocrite on dynamic pricing?


kokomutz said,

Why should there NOT be dynamic pricing for award travel? It exists for revenue tickets: as supply dwindles price increases.

This is far more of a free market approach to awards than the current Soviet-style fixed price for awards where your only options are pay one of two fixed prices for bread or there is no bread at all.

Gary Leff said,

@kokomutz – Oh I don’t know, posted pricing is very common in free market economies and in private businesses. Very few businesses have variable pricing to the degree that airlines do, one of the most highly regulated businesses in the country. When I go into Whole Foods they have lots of different items, but they have one price for each. I don’t think pricing model as it applies here is especially ideological.



Kokomutz said,

But that’s exactly my point: airlines have uber-dynamic pricing (see what I did there: ‘uber,’ whose dynamic pricing model you vehemently defend) on the revenue ticket side. Why WOULDNT they on the award ticket side?

It works for revenue tickets. It works for uber. Why not award tickets?

Gary Leff said,

@kokonutz uber tells you clearly the multiple of the usual price upfront, they tell you the usual price published on their website, they’re super transparent. Here so far Delta has said “nothing has changed” except that they’ve taken away information.





To me, Delta SkyMiles reward ticketing is following the airline revenue ticket approach and Uber: a base price of 25k miles...unless we think we can charge more...in which case we will.

I mean: either dynamic pricing is innovative and wonderful or it sucks, right?