Great Piece on Fare Strategy from Fare Compare

I am a huge fan of the "reverse yield management" tools that we predicted would emerge over time. The leading two are Fare Compare and Farecase.

Here is a great piece from Fare Compare on the insider column.

Cheers

Timothy

Insider Tip of the Week

Traveling 4 months or more in the future?

Be very careful purchasing U.S. domestic airline tickets.

Airlines manage their revenue in 4 month windows, and raise prices for travel outside this departure time window.
They will gladly sell you a mid-tier price outside of that window.

Many people have been told to buy very early, which can be the worst possible time to buy.

The most dramatic examples are prices in Southwest Airlines' markets. Southwest does not sell tickets for departure after a shrinking 4 1/2 month window (currently August 24th). Southwest usually increases the departure time window every few months.

The classic example is shown at the following link:

http://www.farecompare.com/search/month.html?departure=SAN&destination=PVD&cabin=Coach&date=20070801&days=20070824,20070825

Notice how the major airlines raise their lowest prices by $148 (over 60%) on August 25th -- exactly on the last departure date that Southwest sells tickets.