airline question

[bcubed72]

The real reason for the bizzarre fares is basic ECON. In a perfectly competitve mkt, if the equilibrium price for a ticket is $200, the 120 seats in the 'plane all go for $200.

But the airline knows that everyone (while valuing those seats at >=$200, or they wouldn't buy) has a different point of indifference--the max price they would pay. Usually, buisness travelers are willing to pay more than vacationers; those with flexible travel plans less than those who MUST be there by tomorrow 9AM.

So the airline sets up schemes whereby they attempt to discriminate between travelers by using things like weekend stay, advance purchase, etc. These help get the most $$ out of those who value the tickets most highly.

What I DON'T understand is that, because empty seats become useless once the airplane pushes back, why they won't steeply discount seats at the last minute on partially full airplanes. This is how airline employees travel--space available--because it's the cheapest to the airlines. Cannot understand why they'd rather get $0 for empty seats as opposed to some small amount.

And, back in the day, a direct flight to and from a hub costs more than a filght through the same hub. If a LGA-PIT-CLE ticket cost $250 round-trip, and a NYC-PIT costs $400, you could (pre-passenger name manifests) fly to PIT, get off, and take it back to NY as if you were onboard the whole time. Now, your ticket would be void. (although, I wonder: if you only needed to be in PIT overnight, and you catch the last flight into PIT, couldn't you "accidentally" miss the conncetion, and next day fly the supurflous leg to CLE in order to save $150?