Manchester – Saving on the price of airline tickets seems to have become increasingly difficult, but Professor Claudio Piga, Italian professor of Economics at Keele University in Staffordshire, has a few tricks. “His study – says La Stampa – will be presented at the Royal Economic Society in Manchester this week: his two intuitions are that it is useless to book tickets too far in advance, and it can be even more expensive to book last minute flights. The temporal profile of air fares has a U shape, which begins with high costs, then falls and remains stable at the lowest point for a very short time, and then rises again, reaching its peak again on the eve of the departure date.” Ten days before takeoff is generally the moment when airlines reduce prices, fearing they won’t be able to fill all the seats. “Professor Piga and his collaborators – continues the article – found that the price rates increase by approximately 3% each time a ticket is sold (according to the laws of supply and demand of a quantitatively limited good). Of course, there are also external factors, such as the day of the week (Tuesday is cheaper than Friday or Sunday) or even the time of year: it’s better to plan a visit to the United States when it’s not Thanksgiving.” (9Colonne)
