----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Greenwood" <mgreenwood@telus.net> To: <AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU> Sent: Friday, May 03, 2002 21:53 Subject: Re: If I ran United... > In any other industry, if you were offering a product that people weren't > willing to pay for you would get rid of it. Internet Explorer, for instance? I don't hate first class. I > just think the airlines would make a hell of a lot more money if they forced > people to pay for their premium product instead of giving it away. Uh, they're already charging what used to be FC rates for Y these days (or at least before mid-2001). I don't > have a problem with an airline upgrading someone who flies 200,000 miles if > the back is oversold and they need upgrades. Upgrading someone from a $299 > fare to $2999 fare just for the sake of it is equally absurd. If it's unsold, then the value of the seat is otherwise zero. $2999 was just wishful thinking... > I think your analogy of all of the airlines agreeing to do something and > then one of them not doing it is flawed. Someone who is a 2K with United is > not all of a sudden going to start flying Delta just because Delta offers > First Class. In a heartbeat. I've seen top platinums on CO abandon the company because of Gordon Bethune's stating one thing and promptly doing another. Think they would hesitate for a second if CO dropped FC and DL didn't? > You also give the airlines far to much credit. I will use the > recent elimination of commissions as an example. One of the majors could > have decided to keep paying commission to grab all of the business from > travel agents but that didn't happen did it? The TAs weren't the ones buying the tickets; customers didn't care enough to save them. Customers do care enough to switch from a program they don't like. > Frequent Flyer programs rule > the world and dictate what airlines people fly. Yup, and elite/mileage upgrades are integral parts thereof.