Steven Catron wrote: > ----- 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? Apples and Oranges. Microsoft earns revenue from advertising or have you never experienced those annoying pop up windows? If Ford was producing a car model that no one was buying, they wouldn't make it for long. > > > 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). And if you pay full Y you get First Class on a lot of airlines. Northwest's YUP fares spring to mind. > > > 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... > A seat is going to go empty either way, if they don't upgrade that seat is at the front of the bus, if they do it's empty at the back. No difference. Filling that First Class Seat costs them more money. I have seen cases of full F passengers been downgraded because the First Class cabin is full of upgrades or flights not even being available for someone who is willing to pay for FC because it's full of upgrades. > > > 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? Those were probably few and far between, the majority of people are not going to abandon hundred of thousands of frequent flier miles and start from scratch. > > > > 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. > You don't think TAs buy the tickets? TAs buy them on behalf of the customer and if the customer doesn't have a preference for carrier you can be damned sure that it's the travel agent who is deciding what airline the passenger travels on. Customers didn't care enough to save what? > > > Frequent Flyer programs rule > > the world and dictate what airlines people fly. > Yup, and elite/mileage upgrades are integral parts thereof.