Does stand-by exist anymore? You used to be able to just go to the airport and wait to see if there were any free seats, and if there were, you got them for very cheap.

In Australia, certain airports charge airlines higher landing tariffs making particular routes more expensive, however this doesn’t account for the price fluctuations.

The jeans analogy is slightly flawed as I see it, in that at least from a fashion perspective, the styling of the jean is relevent at the time of arrival on the shop floor, but ultimately it will need to be cleared to make way for new/next seasons stock.

Airline routes don’t appear to work in the same manner, with the exception of seasonal holiday destinations, the demand essentially remains the same, therefore removing the need for the value to decline in a rational manner…

Otherwise we’d all be waiting and buying our tickets at the last minute (when in theory they are cheaper), but the airlines couldn’t afford to wait until that late to see if they have the necessary passengers to make the flight viable!