WN mentioned in an article on dynamic pricing
Airlines inching closer to dynamic pricing: Travel Weekly Airlines are getting closer to offering different prices to different customers. I could see WN charging more to people who have previously searched or purchased AT/BS or EBCI. Or who buy outbound Monday and return Thurs/Friday, as those would likely be business customers. Or those who have tickets paid by a third party. It will be interesting to watch this. |
Experts say such technology is most likely to be used to offer discounts to customers with loyalty status and to generate bundled fare offerings that fit the customer's profile. But in theory the technology could also be used for different purposes, such as to induce a new customer with an especially affordable ticket or to offer a higher ticket price to someone who is likely to be undeterred by an upcharge. |
After reading 100's of times, on this site, that it was impossible for airilnes to do this. Here we go. It's a crappy idea that probably won't work. I just hope the airlines know to send me the lowest price cause I'm most likely headed there anyway:D
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When they start bumping a price up to some travelers but not others, $hit is gonna hit the fan, big time. Not gonna happen.
Offering a discount will work okay, but not up-charging. Not gonna happen. Moving prices around due to demand is another story and they will continue to get better at that. |
Originally Posted by toomanybooks
(Post 29445923)
I could see WN charging more to people who have previously searched or purchased AT/BS or EBCI. Or who buy outbound Monday and return Thurs/Friday, as those would likely be business customers. Or those who have tickets paid by a third party.
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Originally Posted by nsx
(Post 29446260)
This would require Southwest to implement complicated software. I'm sure nothing could go wrong with that. :rolleyes:
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Originally Posted by mile ho
(Post 29446503)
I'm sure Moe, Larry and Curly can handle it.
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Originally Posted by rsteinmetz70112
(Post 29446742)
Yeah but could Southwest's IT Department?
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Amazon could sell its expertise in dynamic pricing to the airlines, hotels, and rental cars companies. @:-)
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If an airline actually got caught doing this, it would be the biggest scandal in the industry - one even the Congresscritters they've paid the best would have a hard time defending. There would be Congressional hearings, a great deal of scrutiny on airline business practices, and probably new regulations - not to mention months of terrible PR that made the airlines long for the days when they only made the news for beating people up.
I don't believe it will happen. There are too many other ways to accomplish the goal via FFP promotions and other loyalty benefits. I could easily see dynamic pricing becoming more sophisticated and more rapidly adjusting fares in response to demand across an entire route or set of routes (as opposed to simply fare buckets on a flight). But an algorithm that prices based upon the characteristics of the person initiating the query...that seems like a red line they won't cross. (I would hope.) |
Originally Posted by toomanybooks
(Post 29445923)
Airlines inching closer to dynamic pricing: Travel Weekly Airlines are getting closer to offering different prices to different customers. I could see WN charging more to people who have previously searched or purchased AT/BS or EBCI. Or who buy outbound Monday and return Thurs/Friday, as those would likely be business customers. Or those who have tickets paid by a third party. It will be interesting to watch this. So unless airlines stop giving miles for tickets bought through OTAs (the way most hotel programs have done), I don't see how this would work, except for (as mentioned above) discounts for people with elite status (who are more likely perhaps to use the airline's own site to begin with). Now, in the case of Southwest, I thought that one of the goals of the new reservation system would be to make their fares be bookable by travel agents. But if they do that, they give up hope of implementing anything like this (other than, again, for "targeted" discounts). Btw, airlines have been "targeting" discounts to elite members for a while anyway, in that to a miles/points collectors bonus miles/points on a flight are more or less the equivalent of a discount. And airlines (including Southwest) have given bonus miles/points/credit on flights in certain situations for decades. |
The vast majority of "dynamic" pricing out there is simple "surge" based pricing, and not "targeted" at particular consumers as implied by the author of this article. This includes Uber, Lyft, Amazon, Disney, etc. -- Why 'dynamic' pricing based on real-time supply and demand is rapidly spreading. Amazon did mess around with targeted dynamic pricing back in 2000 on DVD sales, but has ended the practice. If you read the ATPCO paper at https://www.atpco.net/sites/default/...ry_updated.pdf, you will see they are looking at both the "surge" type of dynamic pricing, as well as targeted type dynamic pricing and that they recognize the potential backlash from consumers and regulators with employing targeted based systems.
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Originally Posted by LBJ
(Post 29448273)
The vast majority of "dynamic" pricing out there is simple "surge" based pricing, and not "targeted" at particular consumers as implied by the author of this article. This includes Uber, Lyft, Amazon, Disney, etc. -- Why 'dynamic' pricing based on real-time supply and demand is rapidly spreading. Amazon did mess around with targeted dynamic pricing back in 2000 on DVD sales, but has ended the practice. If you read the ATPCO paper at https://www.atpco.net/sites/default/...ry_updated.pdf, you will see they are looking at both the "surge" type of dynamic pricing, as well as targeted type dynamic pricing and that they recognize the potential backlash from consumers and regulators with employing targeted based systems.
I've seen multiple third-party hotel sites routinely put up discounted hotel rates at the end of the business day and take them away the next morning, but leave them up all weekend. Ie, they put up one rate during business hours, and another rate outside of business hours. The point is to target leisure travelers and not most business travelers with those discount rates, on the assumption that business travelers mostly book during business hours. (in these cases, I was looking at hotels in the same time zone as myself.) |
What's the real concern? That airlines will use the information they have to price more specifically towards specific passengers based on attributes and behavior?
The ability to charge different prices based on passenger attributes has been in place for decades. Military, Government, State Government, Child, Child with a seat, infant without a seat, infant with a seat, Military Child, Frequent Flyer (with a bunch of different classifications), Resident/National of a certain country, point of sale, airline employee, Clergy, senior citizen (different age classifications), bereavement, there are 100s of passenger attributes which can be used to control the price offered. Then there are corporate contracts (another passenger attribute) allowing for dynamic discounting of published fares and of course the whole side of inventory management. How is that not dynamic? This is moving more towards dynamic offer generation and getting to more price points to better match the demand curve.
Originally Posted by JumboJet
(Post 29446119)
After reading 100's of times, on this site, that it was impossible for airilnes to do this. Here we go. It's a crappy idea that probably won't work. I just hope the airlines know to send me the lowest price cause I'm most likely headed there anyway:D
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Originally Posted by whlinder
(Post 29456470)
LOL who said it was impossible to do? https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-...ine-price.html Here is a couple to get you started. You will have to find the rest. I would tell you to check on almost any airline forum. |
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