Pricing Route Trouble

[tungstennedge]

Ok, so I noticed a problem I'm developing with my pricing, not really sure how to fix it. What happened is some of my routes were given a markup, and are more profitable. Then, when demand increased, or players started dropping, I added more schedules to that route, but often through the create a new route tab, and now some routes, for me are different prices for every 7 planes basically, and some are making a lot more than others. Sometimes I go to bump the price of a certain route up, I just select the route my destination view, and increase say 10%, but some of those routes which were already marked up are then too high in price, while once which were freshly make I still could be charging more.

I now have thousands of routes, I don't think I could manage to set prices manually, it would be so difficult. Maybe I could sort my routes my destination view, and then reset, and increase prices again, however, it in this view it doesn't tell me my average price so I would have no idea what I should increase the price back to.

Should I just globally reset prices to standard, and then re-adjust all my routes based on the load factors I get? I could lose a ton of money doing this but I have 3 billion banked up so I could easily manage, or is there a way I should proceed which doesn't involve a mass reset?

On another note, I really wish there was a way to adjust ticket price on a per schedule based on factors like lf, and current price. EG it would be incredibly useless to say apply a filter to route prices like is lf > 95%, and price< 135%, then increase price 10%. I even wish you should set a series of permanent filters like that that would adjust ever turn even if you did not play. It would be an incredible quality of like change IMO.

[NorgeFly]

You can go to Routes > Price Management and search for the route for which you want to edit the price. Then, you can synchronise any price differences in flights on that route by inputting the desired fare manually in the provided space (set manually) which will then apply that price to all flights.

You can also re-set the price to default in the same way.

Hope that helps.

[Tha_Ape]

Pricing is complicated, as you can influence on them through many many methods.

1°) to have the same price for all flights on a same route, go to Routes -> Price management -> Route Pricing, select the 2 airports in question, reset, and then increase if you want.

2°) When you're getting big, micromanagement becomes a pain in the back, and what I personally do is to reset prices every 3-4 years and then have a large and long adjustment/micromanagement campaign. For all my new routes, I don't bother and usually leave them at std price.

3°) To increase the price on all flights of a single route, you can also do Manage Routes -> Destination View (on the right, above the results), so you'll have the LF and such other things. If you increase prices, this new price will be based upon the default price (because you could have different pricing, so the system has to chose something to base upon, and not add 10% to 230 and 10% to 243, etc.).

4°) High LF is the easiest indicator to know if a route can be up-priced, however on a route at 70% LF with Std pricing, the highest income you could get could very well be at 65%. So even medium LF routes' tariffs can be increased a bit.

5°) A 3% increase from default pricing gives a slight bonus in transported pax, which is very interesting. There could be a reason, but I don't see one. Though if you don't want to bother, just reset and add 3%, the result will be better than with +5% (because at +5%, you'll transport pax paying more, but less pax overall, so less interesting).

6°) Ideally, you want the supply to be around 90% of the demand, so you can milk your passengers, +15, 20, or even 25% more than default. This one is clearly better than the 3% I just talked about.

7°) Not your case in LHR, but just know that HD seating can't support high overpricing. +15% is usually the max, with high CI and RI, before too many pax prefer not to fly with you (or not to fly at all) and your profit begins to drop.

[gazzz0x2z]

(.../...)
7°) Not your case in LHR, but just know that HD seating can't support high overpricing. +15% is usually the max, with high CI and RI, before too many pax prefer not to fly with you (or not to fly at all) and your profit begins to drop.

This. I stopped HD because it makes pricing micromanagement too dangerous. I've seen LFs fall from 96% to 58% by raising ticket price form 270$ to 275$ in the past. (prices before the big cargo adjustment).

[JumboShrimp]

Don't waste your time with fine tuning pricing on route by route basis.

[NorgeFly]

Don't waste your time with fine tuning pricing on route by route basis.

That depends on the type of airline you're running. If you're small or medium size and running at a thin margin, micromanaging fares can be a very effective way of increasing revenue.

Time consuming? Yes. A waste of time? Well, that is very subjective.

[JumboShrimp]

That depends on the type of airline you're running. If you're small or medium size and running at a thin margin, micromanaging fares can be a very effective way of increasing revenue.

Time consuming? Yes. A waste of time? Well, that is very subjective.

Good point.  But the tools for the job (of micromanaging pricing) are just not adequate, so it ends up being an exercise of frustration for even smallish to mid sized airline.

Forget about 1000+ aircraft airline...


@tungstennedge: If you are wondering if you were doing it wrong when you ended up with a total mess: No, every approach you take ends up in a total mess.

[tungstennedge]

Revisiting this thread, I totally agree with pricing tools being inadequate. I played another airline sim where you could apply a filter on your routes, aka like if LF>90, increase price 3 percent, for economy class for example. There were a few other factors and such you could sort by, and also adjust based on defualt fare or current care. AWS need this

[Talentz]

I prefer a simple approach to pricing: CI90+ - Re-set prices to default. <CI90 - Re-set prices to default; Set global prices to -1%. Repeat each year.

Works pretty well, personally.


Talentz

[DanDan]

I prefer a simple approach to pricing: CI90+ - Re-set prices to default. <CI90 - Re-set prices to default; Set global prices to -1%. Repeat each year.

Works pretty well, personally.


Talentz

whats the thing got to do with the corporate image?

[Tha_Ape]

whats the thing got to do with the corporate image?

Higher CI allows for higher prices (pax won't flee to another carrier so easily).

[knobbygb]

Then, when demand increased, or players started dropping, I added more schedules to that route, but often through the create a new route tab,

Going back to your original point, your problem stems from the fact that you're using "create a new route" to add schedules to existing routes. If you clone an existing route it's quicker (far fewer clicks) and more consistent as the non-standard prices (as well as things such as seat blocking, cargo-type balance etc.) will be replicated for you automatically. Why do you do it like that? By the wording of your original question, you already seem to realise that this is where your problem is arising.

I agree with most of the other comments about pricing. I believe some better price-management tools were promised/hinted at by Sami a couple of years ago but were never forthcoming.  I'm not complaining (well, a just bit), just saying. And yes, I'm one of people who DO micro-manage a lot of prices even on 1000+ aircraft airlines.

[Talentz]

whats the thing got to do with the corporate image?

Using the benefits if high CI to maintain income levels w/o the hassle of going through each route and adjusting. I don't like to spend time messing with price unless it is needed to compete on a saturated route. Otherwise, I do other things that boost income.


But that's just me personally. AWS is pretty sandbox; many different ways to play.


Talentz