Case study: overbooking | Probability homework help

Most airlines practice overbooking. That is, they are willing to make more reservations than they have seats on an airplane. Why would they do this? The basic reason is simple; on any given flight a few passengers are likely to be “no-shows.” If the airline overbooks slightly, it still may be able to fill the airplane. Of course, this policy has its risks. If more passengers

arrive to claim their reservations than there are seats available, the airline must “bump” some of its passengers. Often this is done by asking for volunteers. If a passenger with a reserved seat is willing to give up his or her seat, the airline typically will provide incentives of some sort. The fundamental trade-off is whether the additional expected revenue gained by flying an airplane that is nearer to capacity on average is worth the additional expected cost of the incentives. To study the overbooking policy, let us look at a hypothetical situation. Mockingbird Airlines has a small commuter airplane that seats 16 passengers. The airline uses this jet on a route for which it charges $225 for a one-way fare. Every flight has a fixed cost of $900 (for pilot’s salary, fuel, airport fees, and so on). Each passenger costs Mockingbird an additional $100.

Finally, the no-show rate is 4%. That is, on average approximately 4% of those passengers holding confirmed reservations do not show up. If Mockingbird must bump a passenger, the passenger receives a refund on his or her ticket ($225) plus a $100 voucher toward another ticket.

How many reservations should Mockingbird sell on this airplane? The strategy will be to calculate the expected profit for a given number of reservations. For example, suppose that the Mockingbird manager decides to sell 18 reservations. The revenue is $225 times the number of reservations:

R = $225(18) = 4050

The cost consists of two components. The first is the cost of flying the plane and hauling the passengers who arrive (but not more than the airplane’s capacity of 16):

C1 = $900 + $100 * Min(Arrivals, 16)

The second component is the cost of refunds and free tickets that must be issued if 17 or 18 passengers arrive:

C2 = ($225 + $100) * Max(0, Arrivals – 16)

In this expression for C2, the $225 represents the refund for the purchased ticket, and the $100 represents the cost of the free ticket. The Max ( ) expression calculates the number of excess passengers who show up (zero if the number of arrivals is

16 or less.

Questions

1. Find the probability that more than 16 passengers will arrive if Mockingbird sells 17 reservations (Res = 17). Do the same for 18 and 19.

2. Find:

E(R|Res = 16)

E(C1|Res = 16)

E(C2|Res = 16)

Finally, Calculate

E(Profit|Res = 16) = E(R|Res = 16) – E(C1|Res = 16) – E(C2|Res = 16)

3. Repeat Question 2 for 17, 18, and 19 reservations. What is your conclusion? Should Mockingbird

overbook? By how much?







Calculate Your Essay Price
(550 words)

Approximate price: $22

Calculate the price of your order

550 words
We'll send you the first draft for approval by September 11, 2018 at 10:52 AM
Total price:
$26
The price is based on these factors:
Academic level
Number of pages
Urgency
Basic features
  • Free title page and bibliography
  • Unlimited revisions
  • Plagiarism-free guarantee
  • Money-back guarantee
  • 24/7 support
On-demand options
  • Writer’s samples
  • Part-by-part delivery
  • Overnight delivery
  • Copies of used sources
  • Expert Proofreading
Paper format
  • 275 words per page
  • 12 pt Arial/Times New Roman
  • Double line spacing
  • Any citation style (APA, MLA, Chicago/Turabian, Harvard)

Our guarantees

Delivering a high-quality product at a reasonable price is not enough anymore.
That’s why we have developed 5 beneficial guarantees that will make your experience with our service enjoyable, easy, and safe.

Money-back guarantee

You have to be 100% sure of the quality of your product to give a money-back guarantee. This describes us perfectly. Make sure that this guarantee is totally transparent.

Read more

Zero-plagiarism guarantee

Each paper is composed from scratch, according to your instructions. It is then checked by our plagiarism-detection software. There is no gap where plagiarism could squeeze in.

Read more

Free-revision policy

Thanks to our free revisions, there is no way for you to be unsatisfied. We will work on your paper until you are completely happy with the result.

Read more

Privacy policy

Your email is safe, as we store it according to international data protection rules. Your bank details are secure, as we use only reliable payment systems.

Read more

Fair-cooperation guarantee

By sending us your money, you buy the service we provide. Check out our terms and conditions if you prefer business talks to be laid out in official language.

Read more

Order your essay today and save 10% with the coupon code: best10