optimal load factor?

[dagwood]

Any thoughts on the optimal load factor versus pricing on a route?

What should the target load factor be? Is it true if you have a LF of 100% on a mature route, is the pricing too low?

your comments are appreciated. 

[schro]

There is no optimal load factor, period. There IS optimal pricing which will dictate how many seats you will sell for the conditions of the route resulting in a number of seats that are sold. Once you determine number of seats sold THEN you determine load factor by simple math. Yes, a load factor of 100% indicates that you are likely leaving money on the table through low pricing.

So, remove load factor from your thought process. Consider the following:

Price * Seats Sold = Revenue

You need to determine (through trial and error) how to adjust your Price variable to result in the highest Revenue number (as Seats Sold will vary based upon Price). Once you determine where Revenue is the highest, you can then calculate your optimal load factor for that point in time by dividing seats sold by seats offered (which is worthwhile only if you really like math that much).

[gazzz0x2z]

As schro said. Plus, depending in the kind of seating, the behaviour changes massively. So be careful.

[freshmore]

So true, I'm noticing a big difference in routes where competition runs Standard seating as opposed to HD in GW2 at the moment. Load factor is irrelevant largely, a lot of routes may end up with 50-70% loadfactor, this would likely be because of huge competition or because you supply more that there is demand, at which point aiming for a specific higher load factor is often counter productive. As lowering prices doesn't have a large enough effect to earn you more money, I only concentrate on routes with 80% or higher load factors and aim to raise those prices to make more money.

In general good practice for me is:
1. Regular raise prices of routes with 80%+ loads by 10-20%. Sometimes 75%+, but normally I'm bored by the time I reach those.
2. Raise all price by a few percent each year to try and keep up with inflation.
3. Reset all prices every few years, surprising how much this will affect prices, often leading to a decent increase in average ticket prices and overall profit.

I don't bother taking the time adjusting prices downwards, too much effort to work out whether what I'm doing is has any benefit.