I rarely fly full fare. Even on last minute business trips I have been able to find lower fares by choosing appropriate flights and routes. Online travel software may not be very user friendly, but it does provide a lot of information to the end user. One can save a lot of money.

On a related note, I read recently in C.N. Traveler magazine that there were a couple of lawsuits pending against the airlines, one challenging airlines cracking down against "hidden city" routing, and the other one against the high price differential between refundable and non refundable tickets.