Airlines make 200,000 pricing changes a day, according to ABC News. Even Amtrak now relies on fluid pricing. Discounted tickets are a boon to millions of travelers who are able to plan ahead, stay over a weekend night, and conform to tight restrictions. By contrast, last-minute business travelers must pay increasingly exorbitant fares. But price is only half the equation for corporate success.
Service still counts too.
Perhaps Arthur Martinez, chief executive of Sears, Roebuck, has the best philosophy. That attitude is just as valid for the highly competitive airline industry, which at the moment is enjoying record levels of passenger traffic. It's an acknowledgment that people's schedules are unpredictable and that plans can change. It's a goodwill gesture, a way to satisfy a few customers when a plane would otherwise take off with empty seats. Carriers are doing many things right.