This whole thread has me thinking about another idea I had a decade ago... imagine an arm's-length intermediary like a Walrasian auction that instead of fiddling with the price like RM does, essentially collects sealed bids and reserve pricing (say like full charter), and doesn't close the transaction of flight confirmation until equilibrium is established, thus setting the price for the flight flat across the board. This ensures healthy rent for the vendor and "fair" pricing for consumer. The problem it seems with airlines is that they're too spiky in profits, which is no good for either side.
Also, this intermediary can accept "bids" on ranges of flights... like "I'm in XYZ and I wan to go to either ABC, DEF, or GHI and I'm willing to pay $1234".... I'm willing to give up this ceiling info to the intermediary, because the intermediary does not disclose it to the supplier, hence the arm's-length requirement.
Have I essentially described a TA?