I’m discussing airline inventory this week, including fare class availability, fares themselves, and fare construction. A lot of talk about fares for a product some people don’t think is priced very fairly at all. But maybe that's just because they don't know what to look for. I get upset, too, when things seem unnecessarily opaque. I'll try to … [Read more...]
How to Combine Availability and Published Fares
September 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment
I’m discussing airline inventory this week, including fare class availability, fares themselves, and fare construction. A lot of talk about fares for a product some people don’t think is priced very fairly at all. :P Now I know a lot of you are probably interested in award space, but this is purely a discussion of revenue travel right now. A … [Read more...]
Where to Find Information on Fare Class Availability
September 17, 2012 By 2 Comments
On Friday last week, I provided a brief introduction to how airline inventory works and why that matters when you try to understand how much a particular ticket should cost. There are two factors in particular, the published fares (which require to specific "fare classes" or "booking classes") and the number of tickets available in these booking … [Read more...]
The Risk of Constantly Changing Fares
September 8, 2012 By 3 Comments
A friend of mine recently booked travel to Peru and had some trouble finding a promotional fare. It seemed that after finding the low fare the first time around, a short time later it was gone, only to reappear a few hours after that. Although the Global Distribution Systems (GDSs) that collect and share fare data are updated several times a day … [Read more...]
An Example of Using Fares and Availability to Book a Real Trip
February 25, 2012 By 10 Comments
This post is part of a continuing series on using fare rules and inventory data to book a trip at the best price. Understanding Airline Inventory Finding Fare Class Availability Matching Availability to Published Fares Deciphering Fare Rules An Example of Using Fares and Availability to Book a Real Trip Yesterday I promised to show … [Read more...]
