The airlines should sell open seats for less the closer it is
to departure. Any fare is better than an open seat.

Actually, they used to do that (it was called "standby"). But in any
case it only works "all things being equal". But all things are not
equal - most specifically, the existance of standby alters passenger
behavior, leading to fewer full fare bookings as passengers hope to
snag a standby fare. Profit goes down.

At least (I speculate) that's probably what happened, and probably why
airlines stopped the standby stuff.

Jose
--
Freedom. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
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