Perhaps you've been here: You snag a flight cross country -- and back -- for just $320, board the plane and notice a bunch of empty seats. You think: How can an airline afford this?
A few months later, you repeat the trip on shorter notice. This time, you pay $1,200 for basically the same seat. You think: This airline is making a fortune off me.
But here's the thing: Airlines are not crazy. They know exactly what they're doing. They just don't always tell customers.
And to some extent they can't. The fares are so complicated, and change so often, that no travel agent -- no computer, even -- can tell you just what that ticket to Toledo will cost you next Tuesday.
"The yield-management system at the airlines has gotten so sophisticated," said Victoria Wofford, the president of the business-travel firm Tri-Pen Management. "Travelers certainly don't understand it, and the airline doesn't want them to."
MSN Money
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