Better informed customers for improved revenue management?

Abstract

For the average personal traveler, airfare pricing has some peculiar and unpredictable features. These features may unnecessarily complicate matters for customers in their decision making over whether to purchase a given ticket or not. The objective of this article is to raise the issue whether airlines potentially could be better off by sharing explicitly with their customers what causes these peculiarities. For instance, one scenario could be that when a customer receives an airfare quote they are also provided information regarding, say, the booking curve, the forecast demand and the marginal value of the seat. The purpose of the article is not to provide an in-depth analysis or indisputable conclusion on the topic, but rather to bring the issue to light and comment on a few facets.