Fun RJ article

[vc10]

Passengers _are_ willing to pay for extras. JetBlue regularly gets higher average fares on its routes than its direct competition.

There are people who say that they won't take their kids on another airline but JetBlue, if they can possibly avoid it. Sit the kids in front of the TV and forget them for the next two hours. That's worth real money to some people. Depending on the route, JetBlue can make a $20 premium per pax, on average. How much does the TV cost them? About $1 per seat per flight. You do the math.

You want something extra these days in coach class, you're probably not going to find it on a legacy airline. The majors don't offer much more than a low cost guy, and sometimes (as with JetBlue) they offer less.

That's the stupid thing about Song---it's a low cost operation. You want the best that Delta has to offer? OK, but it's gonna cost you... LESS, that is. Compared to Song, mainline Delta has fewer features and is more expensive. Delta's an inferior value proposition to Song---"Song" devalues "Delta". This contradition is what Grinstein may be trying to address in putting Song expansion on ice.

 

[RegionalFA]

Just a little piece of info...


The ones that I hear feedback the most often from is the business guys. Sure, they'd rather be in first class... but they don't always get it, either.

They're the ones who usually tell me that they "don't mind" the RJ's or that "they're kinda nice"... Esp. when the routes are run several times a day instead of 2-3 really packed mainline flights. It's the vacationers that seem to think they deserve a 747 to take them on an hour "puddle jump." They're also the first to inform me that the plane is small. No **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED**? Really? **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED**, I must've gotten on the wrong plane myself.

I happen to like them... for more than "i work on one". Many of them stated above. I always get crammed next to the guy who takes over my seat and armrest, insists on talking to me when mainline. I have to lug the rollaboard that i won't need inflight down the aisle that is the exact same width.

Etc. and so forth.

I also agree... if the RJ is what people are paying for (in most cases that the use of the RJ is "inappropriate" there are alternatives, but people go the cheaper route) then that's what they're going to get. As someone said, they vote with their chargecard.

 

[wms]

The walk-up premium fairs aren't gone. I was at the counter jump seating from DFW to CLT the other day and someone asked about a last minute first class fair. $1400, reduced to $1100 if she enrolled in the Freq. flyer program. She paid it. The walk-up coach fair is $770. The same as before 9-11.

 

[acaTerry]

All this jet lamentation.....makes me glad I'm a Prop King. AT least the pax know ahead of time its krap.
Although the occasional whiz kid shows up: i.e. the kid who asked me what the movie was on a flight from IAD to BWI!!!!
A 7 minute leg! And he was serious!
I love the public...

 

[46Driver]

Passengers _are_ willing to pay for extras. JetBlue regularly gets higher average fares on its routes than its direct competition.

There are people who say that they won't take their kids on another airline but JetBlue, if they can possibly avoid it. Sit the kids in front of the TV and forget them for the next two hours. That's worth real money to some people. Depending on the route, JetBlue can make a $20 premium per pax, on average. How much does the TV cost them? About $1 per seat per flight. You do the math.

You want something extra these days in coach class, you're probably not going to find it on a legacy airline. The majors don't offer much more than a low cost guy, and sometimes (as with JetBlue) they offer less.

That's the stupid thing about Song---it's a low cost operation. You want the best that Delta has to offer? OK, but it's gonna cost you... LESS, that is. Compared to Song, mainline Delta has fewer features and is more expensive. Delta's an inferior value proposition to Song---"Song" devalues "Delta". This contradition is what Grinstein may be trying to address in putting Song expansion on ice.

You are dead on the money here. Not only is SONG better than Delta (coach) but so is JetBlue and some others when it comes to service. For example, on an AirTran 717 you get full service but Delta MD-80's have only the "fast break" of water and pretzels - same thing with Air Tran RJ's having full service but the Delta RJ's only providing limited "fast break" service. Not only are the LCC's cheaper to operate now than mainline carriers, in many cases they provide more and better service. No wonder the legacy carriers are bleeding red ink.....

 

[Sam Fisher]

Passengers _are_ willing to pay for extras. JetBlue regularly gets higher average fares on its routes than its direct competition.

...

Depending on the route, JetBlue can make a $20 premium per pax, on average. How much does the TV cost them? About $1 per seat per flight. You do the math.

Does JetBlue have a revenue premium over the legacy carriers? How do you know this? Where is your factual data to back up this claim? I'm not disputing your claims but if you are going to make claims like that, you need to provide some factual basis for those claims.

Cheers.

Sam

 

[CA1900]

Although the occasional whiz kid shows up: i.e. the kid who asked me what the movie was on a flight from IAD to BWI!!!!
A 7 minute leg! And he was serious!
I love the public...

Sounds like the woman who got on our 80-mile flight from BDL to ALB the other day, got to the top of the stairs, and said (yelled) to me, "Christ, you mean there's no FOOD?"

"Ma'am, we'll be parked at the gate in Albany before you'd be through the line at McDonalds here. Think you can make it 20 minutes?"

Rude, you bet, but I only responded in kind.