Revenue management without forecasting or optimization: An adaptive algorithm for determining airline seat protection levels

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: van Ryzin, G; McGill, J
• 署名单位: Columbia University; Queens University - Canada
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.46.6.760.11936
• 发表日期: 2000
• 页码: 760-775
• 关键词: yield management; revenue management; airlines; forecasting; optimization; fare class allocation; distribution free; adaptive algorithms; stochastic approximation

摘要

We investigate a simple adaptive approach to optimizing seat protection levels in airline revenue management systems. The approach uses only historical observations of the relative frequencies of certain seat-filling events to guide direct adjustments of the seat protection levels in accordance with the optimality conditions of Brumelle and McGill (1993). Stochastic approximation theory is used to prove the convergence of this adaptive algorithm to the optimal protection levels. in a simulation study, we compare the revenue performance of this adaptive approach to a more traditional method that combines a censored forecasting method with a common seat allocation heuristic (EMSR-b).