The mathematics of fare pricing
 

Don't know if this has been posted (I did a quick search and didn't find anything):

http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_09_02.html

From the Mathematical Association of America, it's an article about the creators of ITA Software, and includes some interesting facts about pricing of fares.

Very interesting. I enjoyed the article. Thanks!

drtravix, thanks for the pointer. The complete SIAM News article is here (with a clearer presentation of the halting problem).

thanks although not sure I buy into the arguments

I respectfully suggest that the good folks at ITA Software might know a little more about this this. ;)

I dare say you're right, and maybe its my simple mind but the way I see it with all the fare restrictions there are I dont see how the solutions can be so insolvable?

Also see this article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer about a startup company with an interesting wrinkle on the fare analysis biz.

I suspect the biggest reason is that they assume you can have unlimited segments, which makes sense from a mathematical perspective.

I haven't read the full article, but I'm sure there is a report somewhere which contains the full details of the work by that researcher. If I run across it, I'll post a link.

Here's another method :):

http://www.SkyHighAirlines.com/chickencam.asp

SkyHigh is awesome. Only 37.19 to Hendricks, MN! Not sure what is there, but I gotta go. :D