Why the air ticket is changed for 10 times per day?

If you ever searched for airline tickets for a certain time, for example weeks or two, then noted that prices are constantly changing. Sometimes it happens that you have found a great price, but decided to wait with booking several hours and now, when visiting the site, the air ticket is already completely different.

Most likely, not the site on which you are looking for air tickets, and airlines.

Like any enterprise, the main goal of the airline is to receive profits. The assistant in this case is the income management system (Yield Management), which allows you to install different prices for different groups of buyers in order to maximize revenue on each flight.

The easiest way to explain it on the example. Suppose on the flight from Moscow to New York 100 seats. Among the passengers of this flight will be two different groups of buyers:

• 20 seats &# 8211; Businessmen who go on a business trip, people who need to urgently get to New York, not depending on the price of a ticket.
• 80 seats &# 8211; the rest of the passengers that are more sensitive to the price and, if it exceeds their budget for air tickets, they just do not fly.

If the airline will set high prices for flights, only passengers from the first group will fly on the flight, and 80% of the salon will be empty. If prices omit to the level of acceptable for the second group – the airline will not profit from passengers from the first group. This is a real dilemma! But airlines found a way to resolve it:

Airlines set different prices to sell each place in the plane at the highest price.

If from the entire flight 10 people are ready to buy a ticket for 500 dollars, they will be happy to sell it for 500. If there are 20 people ready to buy a ticket for $ 400, then they will be sold for 400 and t.D. until the whole plane fills.

How do they do it?

Everything is very simple, we have already written about our blog about the fact that on every flight there are different tariffs. They can be both a few, which is most often found on domestic flights, and several dozen, in international destinations.

Consider an example with the tariffs of Lufthansa airline on the flight Moscow – Barcelona. In the economic class of the airline offers 11 different tariffs for the price of 11,858 rubles. up to 80 165 rubles. The difference is almost 7 times.

But the most interesting thing is no matter how much money you paid for the air ticket, you will still sit on the same places and there is one and the same as other passengers, t.E. in fact, on the service and convenience of the flight it absolutely will not affect.

The only plus of more expensive tariffs is that they can be selected without fines or with a minimum penalty or exchange. But if you are sure that your plans do not change, what benefit from the fact that this ticket can be passed?

Now that you know what the ticket is Moscow &# 8211; Barcelona can be bought from 11,858 to 80 165 You naturally want to buy it precisely for 11,858 rubles. And no more, but it is not so easy ..

The airline limits the conditions for the acquisition and the number of tickets at low rates.

For example, buy a ticket at tariff for 11,858 rubles. You can not less than 21 days before departure, while the flight must be on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Tickets at the rate of 14,650 rubles. You can buy at least 14 days before departure, and for 17 850 rubles. for 7 days and t.D. More about the limitations and rules of various tariffs >>

Simply put – the lower the air fare, the more different restrictions imposes an airline on its sale.

Therefore, if you are looking for a ticket for 21 days before departure, then you have a chance to buy it in just 11,858 rubles., And the next day you will go to another price category and pay at least 14,650 rubles.

So, As soon as you see an affordable price and immediately book, do not hope for lower prices, this is a very rare phenomenon! Especially in popular routes, and even at the height of the tourist season.

The same story and with the number of tickets at low rates. Here the Income Management System (Yield Management) comes in the game, which analyzes hundreds of various factors and, depending on the data obtained, adjusts the number of places for each tariff.

The airline reduces the number of places on cheap tariffs if the demand for tickets increases, and vice versa increases them if demand falls.

All this happens in real time, so the price of the ticket may change during the day and even one hour.

For example, at the cheapest tariff for 11,858 rubles. There are only 3 places. Someone rides the whole family and immediately bought them. Next accessible rate – 14 650 USD, But the airline’s income management system considered that the tickets very quickly offer and closed the sale of tariffs at this price. Consequently, the air fare jumpers to the next tariff – 17,850 rubles.

And what if 10 people cancel his flights or change them to other dates?

What happens depends on the number of remaining days before departure. If they, let’s say, 30-40, then, most likely, at the price of the ticket, this will not affect. But if only 3-4 days left before the departure, the airline can again open the sale of tariffs for 11,858 or 14,650 rubles, so as not to send a plane with empty places.

But this situation is very rare! In the overwhelming majority of cases, the less days left before departure, the higher the price of the air ticket.

But how then buy tickets?

We are all used to the sale of tickets, it’s when from the original price the seller makes a discount. But in the case of the airlinears, everything is completely different ..

Let’s open you a small secret, sell, in the literal sense of the word, the airline does not, it simply opens another category of tariffs for sale. But more about this next time 🙂