Reference no: EM133359790

Question: Yield management (revenue management) has produced significant revenue gains for some firms. Some consumers extract a certain level of excitement by successfully locating or negotiating a particularly low price, but for others, yield management produces frustration. These customers often feel that they were charged more than necessary and that some other customers must be getting a better deal for the same service. Economics teaches us that a perfect pricing scheme would charge each customer exactly the maximum amount that he or she would be willing to pay, thus transferring all consumer surplus to the selling firm. However, consumers do not live in a vacuum, and in the real world, customers talk, and reputation (good and bad ) spreads. Do you like knowing that the airline price you looked up an hour before might have changed already? Do you like playing a "wait and see" game until you think prices have hit rock bottom? Do any of you feel that you are treated unfairly? Even if the practice is legal, is it ethical to treat consumers differently just because supply and demand conditions have changed?