Originally Posted by
joshua362
Not sold out, but purposely held back from sale. Gives the illusion of scarcity so most people grab the most expensive AT fares. Ticketmaster does this too except they steer people onto resale markets. Good for shareholders, not good for consumers. Do check back often, I never had a problem eventually grabbing March FL fares closer in.
I've always advocated to not give away the seats when the schedule opens. From a revenue management perspective, there is plenty of demand later on for cheap fares. So, if I were running WN, I would probably start with moderate fares in the WGA bucket and lower them if necessary 60-90 days before the flight. That said, with WN's liberal change policy, it can throw a monkey wrench into normal revenue management schemes and may be why WN doesn't release them at all in some markets when the schedule opens.