Airlines Investigated for Fare Hike Collusion in Response to May Crash

I don't think there was anything sinister going on here....like the article said, the reservation system's automatically raised fares in reaction to supply and demand, as their yield management always does anywhere....

Maybe they're investigating the yield management agorithm. Don't they sometimes suspend trading in markets when something unusual happens to mess up normal market conditions? I'd hate to think that the free market is set on autopilot to allow for price gouging.

As I recall, the first day or two after the accident one or two airlines offered "free" tickets to Amtrak ticket holders, or something like that.

It would be interesting to see how prevalent these outlandish fares on offer were. I checked occasionally over that period and did not find much in the way of outlandish fares, except when you checked for some weird routings. But that was just point observation. I am curious to see if they have any statistics on what proportion of fares were ridiculously high and how they were routed. I did find fares for example that routed LGA - ORD - IAD which was over $800, but who in their right mind would accept that routing unless it was PRR or me try to do points runs? and then we'd probably be more careful about what fares we selected anyway.

Unless something more concrete comes out of the investigation, I would chalk this up as another storm in a teacup. But it is good to do the investigation tog et the facts straight once and for all. Good for all parties involved.

jis said:

It would be interesting to see how prevalent these outlandish fares on offer were.

Click to expand...

I, too, would be interested in just how many of these $2,300 fares were sold by Delta, and just what perks went along with that ticket (towncar pickup? lobster diner? "companionship" in the lounge? ).

Delta responds it actually reduced fares and honored Amtrak tickets.

http://www.ajc.com/news/business/amid-dot-probe-delta-says-it-lowered-fares-after-a/nm6DP/

I can believe that they honored tickets, but "we lowered fares to $300" is pretty thin gruel since many of their advance-purchase tickets go for far less. I checked fares for tomorrow, and a number of flights have prices <$300 available. Many don't...but at the same time, Delta is very often willing to sell tickets for far less than $300 on those flights in advance.

Honestly, my guess is that there wasn't collusion or intentional gouging. Instead, I suspect that everyone's algorithms fired off as tickets sold out and things went a little nuts. I'd consider this to be the inverse of the infamous "Denmark affair"...and both this and that seem to be down to someone not minding the store at revenue management.