Equilibrium analysis of unobservable M∕M∕n priority queues with balking and homogeneous customers

Abstract

We investigate equilibrium queueing strategies in an unobservable M∕M∕n non-preemptive priority queue with homogeneous customers. Arriving customers make decisions by choosing one of the three options: balking, joining the regular queue, or joining the priority queue with an additional fee. We adopt a sequential approach to analyze this two-dimensional queueing game. We first obtain the equilibrium choice between joining the priority or the regular queue given a fixed total joining rate, and then we determine the equilibrium total joining rate.