In order to maximize revenues, air transport companies have introduced ticket types with lower fares but with certain restrictions applied. Typical examples are that travellers' staying over the weekend or buying their ticket well in advance get lower fares. The goal of these restrictions is to separate travellers into groups with more homogeneous willingness to pay, typically business travellers versus leisure travellers. A crucial question is then how these restrictions are valued by the travellers. Do they perceive that the decreased flexibility is worth the fare reduction? Are the respective fare reductions too large or too small? Do they achieve their goal of separating travellers into homogeneous groups in terms of willingness to pay and necessary trip restrictions? In an attempt to answer these questions, a survey has been carried out on an international SAS flight. Travellers were confronted by a stated preference game with different fares and ticket restrictions. This allows us to estimate values of various types of restrictions. Although the exact results are confidential, the methodology involved and the general conclusions are public, and show that this line of research can be a valuable tool in a revenue maximization process. For the covering abstract see ITRD E124693.
Samenvatting