why are the final dozen open seats not 12 dollars?

[CupCrusher40]

Financial, or tech? 12 dollars to Southwest better then 0, unless the more people makes more jet fuel?

[SoCalFlyer97]

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@CupCrusher40 wrote:

Financial, or tech? 12 dollars to Southwest better then 0, unless the more people makes more jet fuel?

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It's basic supply and demand...

I think selling off the unsold seats at $12 would gravely undercut market airfare pricing and would also lead to a growth of excessive demand of people waiting until the last minute to book their flights--something that would seriously distort basic supply/demand economics and current pricing structures in the airline industry. Also, if the airline ever adopted this, we can all kiss many of our key passenger benefits goodbye (like Same Day Standby and Same Day Flight Change as every flight would be fully booked with no room left for Standby)--serious "no no's" in my opinion.

Imagine a fast food chain restaurant deciding to sell off unsold prepared food and word of it got out. Many people would no longer go to the restaurant during the dinner rush hour, but would wait 'til closing in a mad-dash attempt to grab the leftovers.   

The one exception that appears to be working well for Southwest is the airline selling off the unsold A1-A15 Business Select Boarding Positions on the day of travel under Upgraded Boarding. I'm sure lots of thought and analytics went into the current pricing structure and policy to not undercut the value of Business Select fares.

[bec102896]

If I could wait until hours before a flight to buy seats for $12 or cheap you bet I’d be doing it as well as most of the world and flight would be empty until hours before the flight 

[ZevSupport]

People also fly standby...

[DancingDavidE]

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@CupCrusher40 wrote:

Financial, or tech? 12 dollars to Southwest better then 0, unless the more people makes more jet fuel?

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It's more valuable to hold that seat for an A-list or Business select customer that needs to change flights. I'm sure there is a break-even amount that would make sense to fill it rather than fly empty and that number might be in the $20's or $30's for short flights.

But the strategy is definitely to get the flight booked earlier and charge more later because you can (the flight is worth more, especially last minute business flights that will pay).