I would say part of it is the way airlines price tickets in the first place. Instead of pricing them as some sort of cost plus basis, they use software to squeeze every penny they can out of flights. This causes ticket prices to vary wildly. It personally makes me angry that to get a good price I have to try to predict the right time to book a flight. If they get to game me by dynamically changing prices then why can't I game them by taking advantage of the lowest prices when they are availiable?