A practitioner writes:

I was also a one-man pioneer of yield management. When the transatlantic APEX fares came in, much lower than anything that had gone before, one of my jobs was to decide what the allocation of APEX seats would be on each flight – zero, 5, 10, 15, 20 or 25. I had to do it a month at a time, for every US flight, in either direction, and it was sooooo boring.

I knew if I mixed the numbers up with no observable pattern, they would look as if more science and less repetition had gone into them, so that’s what I did. I’d spend an hour or so using my best judgement then just randomise the rest to get the job done.

Sounds about right…..