Even as air travel becomes easier it also becomes more complex and confusing for the average passenger. One of the major areas where the confusion is further confounded by an absence of logic is in the ticketing structure. Unlike equal pay for equal work, the ticketing system is unequal, arbitrary and the cause of much anguish and irritation. If IATA, in its capacity of a clearing house thinks of it as a nightmare, it can be forgiven. The multiple permutations in calculating fares has now swung into the realm of the absurd. So much so that nearly everyone on board an aircraft flying from point A to point B could be paying a different fare from the rest. The advent of rewards, promotions, incentives, off season fare pricing, route advantages, red eye flights, discounted coupons, and several other factors have now made it almost impossible to obtain a semblance of sanity in the creation of the fare structure. Where the sanity of it all comes into question is when the passenger is put to inconvenience so that instead of getting the edge the traveler is put under the sword.

The sudden upswing in pricing during holiday seasons is hurtful. Even low cost airlines are now doing just that. At the peak season the price of a ticket rises exponentially and the occasional traveler’s budget is bruised. That it goes against the grain of being low cost does not qualify as an argument. In a perfect world the passing of the break even point per flight in terms of yield would be enough reason to maintain the price structure. But the carrier intends to make up lost revenue during the lean months and, therefore, pushes the envelope.

There is no yardstick used per se, just a peek at the competition and the belief that there will be enough takers. In a perfect world when there is a rush the carrier would just put in more flights and have a flexible landing rights bi-lateral agreement. Since they won’t take that route the nightmare continues. By the same token tickets should go down to the flight as they once did. There are no percentages in flying off with empty seats. Paradoxically, the reverse is true now and airlines up the ante because it serves their purpose better. Not many have calculated the loss of last minute travelers who balk because the fare is far too high.

So you could end up with 300 other passengers on a plane, all of whom have paid different fares.

These days airlines hire computer experts to trawl the routes and capacity to give them figures on maximum profits.

An average airline has 8 to 10 points that determine its fare including competition, amenities, airport landing costs, fuel surcharges, seat demand and fuel consumption.

The basic aim is to create as much difficulty without actually breaking the laws for you to get that cheap ticket which has been shown as the fare. If you manage to get to it after jumping through all the hurdles the airline might still reject your offer by changing the rules to dump you. Yield management which is the fancy name given to conning the customer has now made the cheap ticket a travesty.

The nonsense spirals out of control. You cannot buy a ticket at a competitive price unless you have a 7 day window between purchase and take off. Yet, you can buy a standby seat at a fraction of the published fare. That label has become a mockery and should be dissolved since the published fare is not only irrelevant, it does not even serve as a common yardstick. No frill airlines have added their own computations to the procedure.

While it is true that the public is largely non complaining out of ignorance and a sense of surrender even the airlines are beginning to wonder where it will end. Between travel agency commissions, GSA slabs, seasonal fares, promotional fares, carrier inspired fare structures and the disparity in "price depending on where you buy the tickets and the currency used", the fare system in modern aviation is a murky mystery at best and a completely illogical conspiracy that now creates more problems than it offers solutions.

In the end, no one is happy.