航空公司可藉由動態訂價決定機票價格以影響顧客購買機票種類；此外，有時也提供可退費機票供顧客選擇以最大化收益。本研究使用馬可夫決策過程 (Markov decision process)建立一個機票訂價模型並利用動態規劃 (dynamic programming)進行求解。本研究假設航空公司同時提供可退費和不可退費機票，並且在每期一開始決定兩種機票的價格。顧客分為商務和休閒旅客，當他們進入市場後須選擇購買哪種機票或不購買。進入市場的總顧客數量為不確定的，且是否購買的機率會受到票價影響；而先前購買可退費機票的旅客則可決定是否取消機票。本研究的目的是希望了解剩餘座位、剩餘期數和取消率對航空公司訂價策略的影響。當剩餘座位多時，航空公司應調降價格以增加需求，且亦須評估是否鼓勵顧客購買不可退費機票，因當顧客購買太多可退費機票時，將導致未來預期取消的座位也越多。此外，當剩餘期數越多時，因離出發日遠，顧客有較多時間猶豫是否取消，故航空公司可藉由調漲可退費機票的價格吸引顧客購買不可退費機票。最後當取消率高時，航空公司應傾向販售不可退費機票，故調漲可退費機票或降低不可退費機票的價格。

This paper considers a dynamic pricing optimization problem in the airline industry. In each decision epoch, the airline offers two types of tickets: refundable and non-refundable. Moreover, the offered price of each type of the ticket can be either high or low. Customers consists of business and leisure travelers, and those who own refundable tickets can cancel their tickets in each decision epoch. We model this problem using Markov decision process (MDP). The optimal pricing policy can be obtained through solving the optimality equation of the MDP. This paper shows how the seats remaining, periods remaining, and cancellation rate affect the airline's pricing strategy. Through numerical analysis, we find that when there are many seats remaining, the airline will reduce the price to increase demands, and prefers selling non-refundable tickets to avoids a lot of tickets returned. Besides, it also prefers selling non-refundable tickets far from the departure date because customers are more likely to cancel tickets when there is more time for them to consider whether to do it. Finally, if the cancellation rate is high, the airline will tend to sell non-refundable tickets.

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