Historical Airfare Data Needed
 

I'm looking for historical airfare data, for a project I'm working on in graduate school. It needs to be as granular as possible, and ideally would cover about the past 12 months.

Do you (or anyone else in FlyerTalk) happen to know how I might be able to obtain these data?

Forgive me if this sounds like a joke, cause I don't mean it. What do you mean by "granular" in this context?

I think he means detailed, as much as raw data as possible.

Nice to see someone starting a thread in this forum that is not trying to create controversy http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Correct. As much raw data as possible. I want to cover as many routes and available fares as possible for those routes.

Not sure this is the correct forum for this but perhaps the easiest route may be newspaper travel section archives. Many papers carry a weekly run of airfares on specific city pairs which are tracked each week. For example, the Fri. Wall St. Journal lists both the lowest advance-purchase fare and lowest unrestricted for several city pairs, naming the carriers. Other papers list even more pairs and carriers.

If price is no object, IATA offers this kind of data commercially - but it will run you many thousand $ for 12 months worth.

Please also see this topic discussed previously, in Mileage Run:

http://www.flyertalk.com/pasttalk/ft...ML/001135.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/pasttalk/ft...ML/004478.html

Thanks for your help in this endeavor. The links to past discussions were especially helpful, though I'm looking for a bit more data than they were.

I would - as B747 suggested - pursue the IATA folks. If you call around at any phone numbers you find on thier website, you might be able to find someone sympathetic to your cause (academic) and might be able to either loan you or let you have stuff.

Also, some travel agents may have limited info.

I met a FlyerTalker recently (well many times actually!) who IIRC compiles this historical data for a living in the USA.

Whether he is able to share it I have no idea.

I'll email him this thread, and he can contact you direct if he is able.

Good luck. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/thumbsup.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/thumbsup.gif

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~ Glen ~ sipping bubbly from a UA 747-400 exit row 15 near you SOON!

mweiss, send me an email about the specifics on what you are looking for. Historical data on fares available is readily available (for a fee).