Advances in Operations Research
Volume 2012 (2012), Article ID 270910, 23 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/270910
Review Article

Unconstraining Methods in Revenue Management Systems: Research Overview and Prospects

Peng Guo,1 Baichun Xiao,1,2 and Jun Li1

1School of Economics & Management, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, China
2Department of Management, College of Management, Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus, Brookville, NY 11548, USA

Received 20 October 2011; Revised 2 April 2012; Accepted 21 April 2012

Academic Editor: Lars Mönch

Copyright © 2012 Peng Guo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Demand unconstraining is one of the key techniques to the success of revenue management systems. This paper surveys the history of research on unconstraining methods and reviews over 130 references including the latest research works in the area. We discuss the relationship between censored data unconstraining and forecasting and review five alternative unconstraining approaches. These methods consider data unconstraining in various situations such as single-class, multi-class, and multi-flight. The paper also proposes some future research questions to bridge the gap between theory and applications.