Changing Prices in the Marketplace

Publishing a fare is like lighting a match in the wind. If you’re not quick, the competition will snuff it out before it takes hold.

Introduction

Airlines don't just set prices and walk away. Fare changes happen constantly—reacting to competition, demand trends, schedule shifts, fuel prices, and strategic decisions. This article explains the mechanics behind changing fares, from filing and publishing to how those fares appear across different sales channels.

If you've ever wondered how an airline's price goes from an internal decision to a visible option on Expedia or Google Flights—or how systems like PriceEye help track and monitor these changes—this is the article for you.

Recap: Pricing vs. Revenue Management

Let’s quickly review where we are:

• Pricing: Defines the fare levels, rules, and products.
• Revenue Management (RM): Controls availability and demand forecasting to optimize yield.

Both rely on a foundation of fare filing and distribution to make their strategies visible to the market.

Step 1: Fare Filing – The Source of Truth

Airlines manage pricing through fare records, which are structured, coded files that contain:

• Fare amount
• Fare basis code
• Market (origin-destination)
• Cabin and booking class
• Rules and restrictions (e.g., advance purchase)
• Effective and expiry dates

The central hub for fare filing is ATPCO – the Airline Tariff Publishing Company.

Step 2: Validating the Filing

ATPCO validates that each fare is correctly formatted and meets industry requirements. Fares can be:

• Public – available to all distribution channels
• Private – restricted to specific partners or contracts

Step 3: Distribution via GDS and Sales Channels

Once validated, fares are distributed to Global Distribution Systems (GDS) like:

• Amadeus
• Sabre
• Travelport

From there, they appear on OTAs, meta search engines, corporate booking tools, and airline websites. Even for direct sales, many airlines still use ATPCO as the single source of fare truth.

Step 4: Competitive Monitoring and Fare Updates

After fares are published, analysts use tools like PriceEye to monitor the marketplace, detect changes, and identify pricing anomalies or rule mismatches. Key questions include:

• Are we competitively priced?
• Did our competitors undercut us?
• Are we showing up correctly in channels?

Types of Fare Changes

• New Fare Filing – introduce new markets or promotions
• Fare Increase/Decrease – adjust price points
• Rule Change – e.g., more restrictive conditions
• Fare Expiry – remove outdated or uncompetitive fares
• Surcharge or Tax Changes – impacts total fare
• Private Fare Updates – for B2B partners

Timing Matters: Fare Load Cycles

ATPCO processes fares in multiple daily load cycles, e.g.:

• Morning: 4am ET
• Midday: 12pm ET
• Evening: 8pm ET

If you miss the load deadline, your competitive reaction might be delayed by hours—timing is strategic.

Beyond ATPCO: Modern Pricing Tech

Airlines are moving toward faster, more dynamic approaches, including:

• Real-time pricing engines
• Continuous pricing (beyond fixed fare steps)
• AI and demand-responsive systems

Still, most fares are filed through ATPCO for compatibility with legacy distribution systems.

Fare Monitoring in Practice

Example: Your competitor drops their JFK–LAX fare from $250 to $180. With PriceEye, an alert is triggered immediately. Analysts assess the change and can respond before losing share—agility is key.

Connecting It All: PriceEye and the Ecosystem

1. Pricing team files fares via ATPCO
2. Fares are distributed to GDS and direct channels
3. RM manages availability of those fares
4. Passengers book fares across platforms
5. PriceEye monitors competitor actions
6. Pricing/RM teams respond as needed

PriceEye serves as a monitoring and insights layer—helping airline teams stay ahead of changes and spot opportunities or threats in real time.

Conclusion

Airlines constantly adjust fares to remain competitive and profitable. This involves fare filing, distribution, monitoring, and fast reaction. Tools like PriceEye are essential to stay responsive in a market where prices change by the minute.

With this article, you now understand:

• How fares are created (Article 1)
• How RM controls their availability (Article 2)
• And how they’re published and monitored in the real world (this article)

Next, we can dive deeper into topics like competitive strategy, price anomalies, NDC, or customer segmentation—whatever helps you best learn what airline professionals know and how they use PriceEye.