Originally Posted by
global happy traveller
Peak period for seasonal travel......usually airlines ramp up the fares and play hardball during this period. They know there is a large captive market of people wanting to head home or be on vacation
Gets worse once the college/university Fall exam schedule comes out...... Fares instantly rise within the week, when lower fare buckets are snapped up with less lower inventories.
Having worked in revenue management before for a carrier - from a business standpoint - if I have the ability and certainty to fill the plane with revenue and premium revenue customers, why would i sell it at a lower cost as fixed rate rewards? Even with a few high Y fares + op up, I might be better off than honoring for fixed reward redemption. Variable doesnt matter because I can charge a higher premium to reflect the market value of the ticket.
However, if dealing with peak leisure travel and low business travel, it often happens that Y gets quite expensive but J gets lower. I remember buying J YYC-YYZ tickets around Christmas time for only marginally more than economy.
I suspect it's not even so much that lower buckets get sold out, but that they are zeroed in the first place.
Another factor here may be that in view of the impending demise of AE, people must be burning their miles at who cares what rate.