Airline Pricing, Price Dispersion, and Ticket Characteristics On and Off the Internet Academic Article

abstract

• This paper uses transaction data to investigate the effects of Internet purchase on airline fares. Our data include ticket characteristics, restrictions, flight load factors, and dates and channel of purchase. Controlling for ticket and flight characteristics, online purchasers pay about 11 percent less than offline purchasers, which seems rooted in more efficient shopping. The results do not support a spillover in terms of reduced fares or dispersion from greater Internet shopping. The paper also uses the data to reevaluate the relationship between market concentration and fares, but fails to identify any statistically significant, robust relationship. (JEL D83, L11, L86, L93)

authors

• Wiggins, Steven

published proceedings

• AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-ECONOMIC POLICY

altmetric score

• 5.08

author list (cited authors)

• Sengupta, A., & Wiggins, S. N.

citation count

• 42

complete list of authors

• Sengupta, Anirban||Wiggins, Steven N

publication date

• January 2014

publisher

• American Economic Association  Publisher

published in

• American Economic Journal: Economic Policy  Journal

keywords

• Offline
• Online
• Price Dispersion
• Search Cost

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1257/pol.6.1.272

URI

• https://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/182795

start page

• 272

end page

• 307

volume

• 6

issue

• 1

URL

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/pol.6.1.272