I can understand airlines wanting to capitalise on passengers who book late paying more especially from a forward planning point of view for the airline RE frequency & size of aircraft required for the flight. However there's many a flight that leaves the ground with an abundance of empty seats. Why not make some $ on them rather than nothing?
Maybe I've just stymied my own argument however I wonder why there's no such thing as standby fares anymore or in today's internet age a range of web sites including the airlines themselves that offer actual last minute flights at heavy discount when there's a good number of empty seats on a given flight.
For example surely it's better for a domestic airline to fill seats on a flight from say SYD-MEL over the weekend that has 40 empty seats offered from up to 24hrs beforehand at $50 a pop than those seats remaining empty?
Wotif & their ilk seem to a good job at filling otherwise empty hotel rooms at the last minute at good to excellent cut rates.
When I was a kid these empty seats were offered as Mystery Flights where on Ansett Airlines of NSW or East West you could go on a day trip somewhere in the network without being able to choose where but for a very low price. It was exciting & interesting & surely better for the airline to get some $ for the seat than it remaining empty! I recall Ansett even offering these when I was a little older to even interstate places as far flung as SYD to PER or ADL & you could even pay more for an overnight option. That's just one good idea now turned to dust.
In my business I'll happily flog the last remaining stock I have in a discontinued line at less than cost just to get something for it rather than nothing & throwing it in the recycle bin. I realise the airlines need to get at least operating cost per seat to make economic sense of the sale but the empty seats could still be offered at a significant discount as opposed to the seat costing a lot more by being empty.
Maybe I've just stymied my own argument however I wonder why there's no such thing as standby fares anymore or in today's internet age a range of web sites including the airlines themselves that offer actual last minute flights at heavy discount when there's a good number of empty seats on a given flight.
For example surely it's better for a domestic airline to fill seats on a flight from say SYD-MEL over the weekend that has 40 empty seats offered from up to 24hrs beforehand at $50 a pop than those seats remaining empty?
Wotif & their ilk seem to a good job at filling otherwise empty hotel rooms at the last minute at good to excellent cut rates.
When I was a kid these empty seats were offered as Mystery Flights where on Ansett Airlines of NSW or East West you could go on a day trip somewhere in the network without being able to choose where but for a very low price. It was exciting & interesting & surely better for the airline to get some $ for the seat than it remaining empty! I recall Ansett even offering these when I was a little older to even interstate places as far flung as SYD to PER or ADL & you could even pay more for an overnight option. That's just one good idea now turned to dust.
In my business I'll happily flog the last remaining stock I have in a discontinued line at less than cost just to get something for it rather than nothing & throwing it in the recycle bin. I realise the airlines need to get at least operating cost per seat to make economic sense of the sale but the empty seats could still be offered at a significant discount as opposed to the seat costing a lot more by being empty.
