Seat Allocation Control

Multiple booking classes available on a given departure within a single compartment of the equipment all share a common inventory of seats. It is the goal of revenue management to increase or maximise the total revenues of the departure by filling those seats with the most profitable mix of customers. This is accomplished by determining the optimal seat allocations, or authorised selling levels, per booking class. We begin this module by considering the benefits and dangers of discount seat allocation control and then look at the respective roles of the revenue analyst and computerised revenue management (RM) systems in determining optimal seat allocations. The second section explains the basic methodology used by many leg- or segment-based RM systems to determine seat protection levels. The final section considers the advantages and disadvantages of leg-based seat inventory control.