"tim......" wrote in message
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"Roland Perry" wrote in message
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In message , at 19:33:34 on Thu, 19 Dec
2013, tim...... remarked:
you cannot possibly infer that just because I disagree with you about the
success that a particular pricing policy has, that I do not understand
the principle involved

Everything you post suggests it. For example that latest comment that
"booking early to get a cheap fare" and "booking indirect routes to get a
cheap fare" are somehow the same thing.

No I didn't say they were the same thing

I said (OK I implied) that they were filling the same seats

Both exist, and are largely independent of each other.

Except that they ARE filling the same seats, so they can't be independent
of each other. As soon as all of the "cheap" early booked seat have gone
I wager you that the "cheap "indirect" seats will be full too (or vise
versa)!


tim


Sorry, no.

Not sure how true this story is but here we go....

A good few years ago an agency in Austin Texas regularly found he couldn't
book passengers on a specific AA flight to Dallas. Then, immediately after
failing to make a booking on that flight someone asked for a trip to New
York which happened to use the "full" flight as far as Dallas. With a
little experimentation the agent found he could book Austin/Dallas/New York
and then cancel the Dallas/New York ending up with what he actually wanted -
Austin/Dallas. It took AA a while to find out what was going on and a row
developed; I can't remember the outcome in terms of AA vs. Agency.

However, the technical result was what is now called "married flights". In
other words the Austin/Dallas and Dallas/New York flights are now stuck
together in such a way that if you book the connection you have to cancel
the whole connection, not just one of the two flights (either of them, you
can't cancel Austin/Dallas either).

It is therefore quite possible for the Austin/Dallas flight to show only
"expensive" seats while the Austin/Dallas/New York shows "cheap" seats.
What AA started is now an industry standard used by many airlines