laravel add attribute to model

1//The problem is caused by the fact that the Model's toArray() method ignores any accessors which do not directly relate to a column in the underlying table.
2
3//As Taylor Otwell mentioned here, "This is intentional and for performance reasons." However there is an easy way to achieve this:
4
5class EventSession extends Eloquent {
6
7    protected $table = 'sessions';
8    protected $appends = array('availability');
9
10    public function getAvailabilityAttribute()
11    {
12        return $this->calculateAvailability();  
13    }
14}
15// ||| ||| ||| SOURCE HERE
16// vvv vvv vvv click here for ...

1$user = User::find(1);
2
3// add occupation to user instance
4$user->setAttribute('occupation', 'Web Developer');

1
2    public function getAvailabilityAttribute()
3    {
4        return $this->calculateAvailability();  
5    }