IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jaitra/v57y2016icp62-69.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Advance purchase behaviors of air tickets

Author

Listed:
  • Chiou, Yu-Chiun
  • Liu, Chia-Hsin

Abstract

The advance purchase behaviors of air passengers are essential to develop revenue management strategies of airlines, which should be carefully studied. Based on this, this study aims to empirically investigate the advance purchase behaviors for airline tickets based on the airline transaction data of Taipei-Macau (TPEMFM) route in 2011. In order to model the advance purchase behaviors, multinomial logit models are used. To facilitate model development, the advance purchase horizon is divided into five time periods by three segmentation methods, including equal time periods, time periods with equal number of purchases and time periods according to professional judgment. Several factors contributing to advance purchase behaviors are examined, including price, flight schedule (time of day, day of week, and months of year) and fare class preferences. The estimation results show that the model with segmentation of equal time periods performs best in terms of adjusted rho-square and AIC indices. It is also found that air passengers tend to purchase tickets earlier for the flights in the morning and in hot season, suggesting the fare and seat inventory control should be varied for different flights.

Suggested Citation

  • Chiou, Yu-Chiun & Liu, Chia-Hsin, 2016. "Advance purchase behaviors of air tickets," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 62-69.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jaitra:v:57:y:2016:i:c:p:62-69
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jairtraman.2016.07.010
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969699715300454
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2016.07.010?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bilotkach, Volodymyr & Gorodnichenko, Yuriy & Talavera, Oleksandr, 2010. "Are airlines' price-setting strategies different?," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 1-6.
    2. Diego Escobari, 2012. "Dynamic Pricing, Advance Sales and Aggregate Demand Learning in Airlines," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(4), pages 697-724, December.
    3. Guillermo Gallego & S. G. Kou & Robert Phillips, 2008. "Revenue Management of Callable Products," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(3), pages 550-564, March.
    4. Hotle, Susan L. & Castillo, Marco & Garrow, Laurie A. & Higgins, Matthew J., 2015. "The impact of advance purchase deadlines on airline consumers’ search and purchase behaviors," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 1-16.
    5. Hetrakul, Pratt & Cirillo, Cinzia, 2013. "Accommodating taste heterogeneity in railway passenger choice models based on internet booking data," Journal of choice modelling, Elsevier, vol. 6(C), pages 1-16.
    6. Gale, Ian L & Holmes, Thomas J, 1993. "Advance-Purchase Discounts and Monopoly Allocation of Capacity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(1), pages 135-146, March.
    7. Wen, Chieh-Hua & Lai, Shan-Ching, 2010. "Latent class models of international air carrier choice," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 211-221, March.
    8. Diego Escobari & Cristhian Mellado, 2014. "The Choice of Airport, Airline, and Departure Date and Time: Estimating the Demand for Flights," Advances in Airline Economics, in: The Economics of International Airline Transport, volume 4, pages 177-198, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    9. Proussaloglou, Kimon & Koppelman, Frank S., 1999. "The choice of air carrier, flight, and fare class," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 193-201.
    10. Hetrakul, Pratt & Cirillo, Cinzia, 2014. "A latent class choice based model system for railway optimal pricing and seat allocation," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 68-83.
    11. Gustavo Vulcano & Garrett van Ryzin & Wassim Chaar, 2010. "OM Practice--Choice-Based Revenue Management: An Empirical Study of Estimation and Optimization," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 12(3), pages 371-392, February.
    12. Raymond Deneckere & James Peck, 2012. "Dynamic Competition With Random Demand and Costless Search: A Theory of Price Posting," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 80(3), pages 1185-1247, May.
    13. Kalyan Talluri & Garrett van Ryzin, 2004. "Revenue Management Under a General Discrete Choice Model of Consumer Behavior," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(1), pages 15-33, January.
    14. Jeffrey I. McGill & Garrett J. van Ryzin, 1999. "Revenue Management: Research Overview and Prospects," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(2), pages 233-256, May.
    15. Jeffrey P. Newman & Mark E. Ferguson & Laurie A. Garrow & Timothy L. Jacobs, 2014. "Estimation of Choice-Based Models Using Sales Data from a Single Firm," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 16(2), pages 184-197, May.
    16. James D. Dana Jr., 1998. "Advance-Purchase Discounts and Price Discrimination in Competitive Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(2), pages 395-422, April.
    17. James D. Dana Jr., 1999. "Using Yield Management to Shift Demand When the Peak Time is Unknown," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 30(3), pages 456-474, Autumn.
    18. Escobari, Diego, 2014. "Estimating Dynamic Demand for Airlines," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 124(1), pages 26-29.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tangjian Wei & Feng Shi & Guangming Xu, 2019. "Estimation of Time-Varying Passenger Demand for High Speed Rail System," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2019, pages 1-24, March.
    2. Wen, Chieh-Hua & Chen, Po-Hung, 2017. "Passenger booking timing for low-cost airlines: A continuous logit approach," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(PA), pages 91-99.
    3. Loh, Hui Shan & Yuen, Kum Fai & Wang, Xueqin & Surucu-Balci, Ebru & Balci, Gökcay & Zhou, Qingji, 2020. "Airport selection criteria of low-cost carriers: A fuzzy analytical hierarchy process," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    4. Fukushi, Mitsuyoshi & Delgado, Felipe & Raveau, Sebastián, 2024. "Impact of omitted variable and simultaneous estimation endogeneity in choice-based revenue management systems," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chiou, Yu-Chiun & Liu, Chia-Hsin, 2016. "Advance purchase behaviors of air passengers: A continuous logit model," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 474-484.
    2. Escobari, Diego, 2014. "Estimating dynamic demand for airlines," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 124(1), pages 26-29.
    3. Bilotkach, Volodymyr & Gaggero, Alberto A. & Piga, Claudio A., 2015. "Airline pricing under different market conditions: Evidence from European Low-Cost Carriers," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 152-163.
    4. Alderighi, Marco & Gaggero, Alberto A. & Piga, Claudio A., 2022. "Hidden prices with fixed inventory: Evidence from the airline industry," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 42-61.
    5. Escobari, Diego, 2017. "Airport, airline and departure time choice and substitution patterns: An empirical analysis," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 198-210.
    6. Chengyan Gu, 2023. "Market segmentation and dynamic price discrimination in the U.S. airline industry," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(5), pages 338-361, October.
    7. Kevin R. Williams, 2017. "Dynamic Airline Pricing and Seat Availability," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2103, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    8. Diego Escobari, 2012. "Dynamic Pricing, Advance Sales and Aggregate Demand Learning in Airlines," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(4), pages 697-724, December.
    9. Diego Escobari & Cristhian Mellado, 2014. "The Choice of Airport, Airline, and Departure Date and Time: Estimating the Demand for Flights," Advances in Airline Economics, in: The Economics of International Airline Transport, volume 4, pages 177-198, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    10. Mumbower, Stacey & Garrow, Laurie A. & Newman, Jeffrey P., 2015. "Investigating airline customers’ premium coach seat purchases and implications for optimal pricing strategies," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 53-69.
    11. Alderighi, Marco & Nicolini, Marcella & Piga, Claudio A., 2016. "Targeting leisure and business passengers with unsegmented pricing," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 502-512.
    12. Kevin R. Williams, 2017. "The Welfare Effects of Dynamic Pricing: Evidence from Airline Markets," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2103R2, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised Jun 2021.
    13. Yannis Kerkemezos & Bas Karreman, 2020. "On the Benefits of Being Alone: Scheduling Changes, Intensity of Competition and Dynamic Airline Pricing," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 20-042/VII, Tinbergen Institute.
    14. Kevin R. Williams, 2022. "The Welfare Effects of Dynamic Pricing: Evidence From Airline Markets," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 90(2), pages 831-858, March.
    15. Kevin R. Williams, 2017. "Dynamic Airline Pricing and Seat Availability," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2103R, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised May 2020.
    16. Marco Alderighi & Marcella Nicolini & Claudio A. Piga, 2012. "Combined Effects of Load Factors and Booking Time on Fares: Insights from the Yield Management of a Low-Cost Airline," Quaderni di Dipartimento 171, University of Pavia, Department of Economics and Quantitative Methods.
    17. Yuqi Peng & Mark Ferguson & Övünç Yılmaz, 2023. "Airline revenue management around sporting mega-events: an application using data from the Super Bowl XLIX," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(3), pages 188-200, June.
    18. Melis, Giuseppe & Piga, Claudio A, 2016. "Are all online hotel prices created dynamic? An empirical assessment," MPRA Paper 75896, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Escobari, Diego & Jindapon, Paan, 2014. "Price discrimination through refund contracts in airlines," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 1-8.
    20. Dupuis Nicolas & Ivaldi Marc & Pouyet Jerome, 2020. "A Welfare Assessment of Revenue Management Systems," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 19(1), pages 1-41, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jaitra:v:57:y:2016:i:c:p:62-69. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-air-transport-management/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.