> The extent to which it is hard to find an airline with a very simple pricing structure testifies to the economic infeasibility of these structures Perhaps. A

> The extent to which it is hard to find an airline with a very simple pricing structure testifies to the economic infeasibility of these structures Perhaps. As I've said elsewhere, another explanation is that it's easier to collude than compete, especially in markets with entry-barrier-induced low participant counts. The "it came to be this way therefore the market has revealed the optimum" claim misses frequent realities of limited market control/visibility, greed/laziness (i.e. collusion), and intermediate or catch-up evolutionary behavior (i.e. it's quite hard, absent lots of historical evidence often lacking in recent markets, to tell whether something represents a stabilizing optimum or a state of flux as emergent behaviors pursue changing realities, and there are many reasons to presume the latter).