Originally Posted by
grahampros
The real key to profitablity is what's the "average" fare on the plane.
Not true! By that reasoning, it would be foolish to sell a few T-booking-class fares to fill the empty seats on what is otherwise a plane full of Y-booking-class pax.
What is important to airlines is the
sum of revenue contributed by the airplane's pax. By that measure, even a passenger traveling on a $100 transcon RT fare is valuable, so long as he is not displacing a higher-revenue passenger.