[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Originally Posted by prktkljokr

It seems its a demand based system like airlines, busy times its time to make some moola, quiet times its time to cover cost's, average times its reasonable fares

I stand to be corrected, but my understanding of the airlines fare structure is that they allocate a certain number of seats at staged pricing. That's the reason it appears as tho the further ahead you book, the less you are likely to pay. But it's no guarantee. Once the allocated number of seats are exhausted at the lowest level, the next level become available. It is possible, but not likely, especially on popular routes, that you can still snag a cheap fare at short notice.

That's the reason airlines are accused of jacking up prices once a destination becomes high demand for a short period of time: the majority of the cheap fares are already exhausted, so only the higher fares are available. Then people complain.

It's a marketing technique. You advertise seats starting at the lower price, but only have limited numbers as if you were to sell the whole planes allocation at that price, you'd be operating at a loss. The remaining seats are at higher price, covering your losses for the lower cost fares, but you still get people looking and buying.