| Fare
Classes
When airlines set their fares, they
divide their seating into "classes", which are based on an
analysis of past passenger purchases. Suppose you have a 100 seat airliner
going from DC to SF. The rates might break down on a particular day as
follows:
- 30 seats at $315 round trip,
- 30 days in advance
- 20 seats at $350 RT, 21 days in advance
- 20 seats at $375 RT, 14 days in advance
- 20 seats at $400 RT, 7 days in advance
- 10 seats at $450 RT, full fare, available
until the last minute.
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Now if the time has elapsed within a given price
group, then the fare will go up to the rate of the next price group. If
they sell the quota of tickets for a price group, even if the time has not
elapsed, then they can only sell you tickets at the next rate group price
(which is naturally higher). So it can pay to make your reservations way
in advance. (The number of seats available at each fare varies from day to
day, depending on the airline's yield management algorithm.) Actually, it would be more accurate to say that
airlines distinguish between classes of service and types of fares. A
discount ticket (fare) for first class travel (service) could, in theory,
be cheaper than an advance purchase ticket (fare) for thrift travel in the
first class compartment (service). The best way to describe it is as a
series of overlapping tiers of fares.
There are five regular classes of service: First,
Business, Standard, Coach and Thrift. Standard is practically nonexistent
these days. Fares usually drop with lower class service. For each class
except Standard there are six main types of reduced-fare tickets:
discounted, night, offpeak, weekend, advance purchase, and excursion fare. |
