This will probably be the 1st blog we do that can save you and your students money! The Wall Street Journal (Jan.27,2011) just reported that whatever you do, don’t buy your next airline ticket on a 
weekend.
We all know that airlines use revenue management (Ch.13) to maximize seat revenue. But the airlines don’t manage their inventory as actively on weekends, so if cheap seats sell on some flights, prices automatically jump higher. When is the best time to buy? The answer is Tuesday and Wednesday—and to be exact, it is at 3 pm on a Tuesday. “That’s when the maximum number of cheapest seats are on the marketplace”, says the CEO of FareCompare.com.
Though prices fluctuate frequently and the ups and downs of air fares can frustrate and anger us, it turns out that pricing has followed the same cycle during the week for many years. Discounts of 15-25% for seats are typically launched on Monday nights. “There is a method to the madness… behind the moves for airlines”, adds Expedia’s strategy director. “But for consumers it does seem crazy”. A ticket can be $199 on certain days and $499 other days, even months ahead of a flight.
Two weeks ago, reports the Journal, a Chicago-Atlanta round-trip ticket for April (on both American and Delta) cost $209 on Tuesday and Wednesday, but then $301 for the next 4 days. When Tuesday rolled around one week ago, the fares went to $219 —then back up to $307 by Friday.
This is certainly a topic that will interest your students.
This is actually great news for a person like me. This means that I can dedicate my weekends to the things I love – drinking beer, watching television (football, old movies, and cage fighting on the “versus” channel) and napping, then on Mondays, I can exercise and take a steam bath, and be ready to order my cheap flights on Tuesday. Isn’t life grand?