Majors - flawed strategy

[shon7]

Just read the article about Delta planning to ask pilots for Wage Concessions. What strikes me is that there is no mention of how Delta (or other airlines for that matter) plans to increase revenue. The whole rhetoric and strategy is centered around cutting costs.

Travellers especially business travellers have become a lot smarter than these airlines will give them credit for. Most are not only finding the best price - but looking at the best value (that is my opinion of course). The "majors" need to start addressing this issue instead of just trying to work out the cheapest ASM's.

What are your views?

 

[46Driver]

Your second paragraph answered your first.

 

[General Lee]

I have heard this before----"The airline industry has changed forever." Well, in this bad economy, people will only buy cheaper tickets. But, when they start to have more money in their pockets due to a rising economy, they will base their choices off of other things also, like full service airlines etc. They will travel more---increasing loads and fares. Not everyone wants to fly on a LCC. But, the internet will play a crucial role, no doubt. That probabaly will keep fares a little lower than the 1999 highs. Remember that most of the Majors have done a lot of cost cutting already-----laying off many workers and simplifying costs----using the internet more and using kiosks at airports for example to help business travelers with their experience. When this bad business cycle does end (and it will), the airlines will be in better shape to eventually expand again. JMO.

Bye Bye----General Lee

 

[46Driver]

What is a "full service airline" and what is a LCC anymore?

JetBlue and Song offer more amenities than mainline (and that leads into the question why does Delta's own LCC provide better service than its mainline???) Likewise, I wonder why on short flights (i.e., PNS to ATL, MOB to ATL, etc) 3 flight attendants on a Delta MD-80 can only provide Delta's "Fast Break" service of only Lemonade or water while the 3 flight attendants on an AirTran 717 and the 1 flight attendant on an Air Wisconsin RJ can provide full service?

I am not picking on Delta per se - only because I ride it more often than anybody else and notice the discrepancies.

 

[Heavy Set]

Well, smart airlines like Delta are already adapting to the changing marketplace. Song is growing and doing better over time. I bet Delta will have a good mix of high-yield and low-yield offerings to capture the entire market - not just the the typical leisure LCC passengers. Sure, more business passengers are flying on LCCs, but they will return to better service once their expense accounts fatten a bit...

What is American doing? How long until Starfish comes to fruition? What is Northwest's strategy for addressing LCCs? At least Delta is thinking ahead and trying to adapt...

 

[RShebib]

Heavy set,

What does "better service" mean? What will the business traveler get on Delta or United or American that they don't on, say, jetBlue......for my $$, if I was traveling from LA to BOS or NY, would it be more important for me to get my drink served while we were still on the ground, or be able to channel surf for 5 hours? I think the paradigm of "service" is changing to give the passenger more control and that's going to be more important then closing the curtain between cabins....

 

[General Lee]

RShebib,

Having TVs in the Song 757s will distract passengers--and they won't be asking as much for drinks on the ground. They also will be pre-buying better food on the ground---and all of the passengers I have talked to recently really like it. The Song experience is getting better and more passengers will be retained.

Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[Heavy Set]

Rshebib,

True that JetBlue offers a great product. But legroom and food could be better. Plus, a lot of business passengers want to do work on the flight and it is difficult to operate your laptop when you are surrounded by low-fare loving 300+ lbs people (probably straight from Hazzard County) billowing over into your seat. Plus, don't forget that business people love strong frequent flier programs that can get them tickets to Paris...

 

[RShebib]

General,

I agree wholeheartedly....my question is how does that affect the "big guys" The Songs and the jetBlues and the Frontiers are set up to give the customer more control and "distract" them from being bored for the several hrs in the air.....the original premise made by someone was that as soon as the economy turns around, all the business travelers and even the leisure travelers will flock back to the Big 3/4....I'm just not too sure that's going to happen anymore....

 

[RShebib]

Heavy,

I know that jetBlue is taking the last row out of all their airbuses which will make for some of the best (if not the best) legroom in the industry........I recently flew on an airline where they offered a "gourmet" lunch for $10.......I bought it and actually liked it.....either way...whether I buy one of these lunches or bring my own food on, I don't think the food/drink options are going to be the big determining factor on which airlines people will fly in the future......I think service (FA, pilots, tv/satellite options) will be increasingly important to people who they choose to fly with.......

 

[General Lee]

RShebib,

Yes, passengers will get used to the nice TVs and the attitudes Jetblue and Song are offering---but the rest of the mainline flying by the big 3/4 are hub and spoke to many smaller cities without LCC services (yet). The fares will rise with a better economy, and the hubs will thrive with connection passengers finally venturing out to travel again. INTL travel next year will be a lot bigger than this last year also. I am sure the LCCs will still expand to meet the growing market too.

Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[MedFlyer]

RShebib,

Yes, passengers will get used to the nice TVs and the attitudes Jetblue and Song are offering---but the rest of the mainline flying by the big 3/4 are hub and spoke to many smaller cities without LCC services (yet). The fares will rise with a better economy, and the hubs will thrive with connection passengers finally venturing out to travel again. INTL travel next year will be a lot bigger than this last year also. I am sure the LCCs will still expand to meet the growing market too.

Bye Bye---General Lee

The only problem is that air travel has already begun to rebound and travelers are coming back....however they're just not coming back to fly on the majors. Or if they do fly on the majors, they will only do so at the lowest of low fares. Personally, you can't really blame passengers for choosing the LCC's over the majors. The majors just don't offer any value anymore, so why pay more for them? The only thing the majors really have left are large international networks and substantial frequent flyer programs. However, those two items alone just aren't enough to lure most travelers anymore.

Song is a nice idea for DL, but it only benefits such a tiny part of the DL network. What about all those business passengers in ATL who are now choosing FL over DL? What's Song doing for them? Nothing.

 

[mach zero]

I hear alot on this list about pax preferring legacy carriers because of their frequent flier programs. In real life out on the line I can't count the number of times I was approached by an angry legacy business traveller who was furious over the increases in miles required for a payout. Plus when they went to redeem the miles, on any given flight, only a small percentage of the seats were available for miles redemption. Most of the LCC's frequent flier systems are setup much simpler. I have a friend who is a frequent business traveler and he now drives miles out of his way to fly SWA instead of AA because their "AAdvantage miles program was almost unusable" (his words).

Mach 0

 

[jetblue320]

Rshebib,

True that JetBlue offers a great product. But legroom and food could be better. Plus, a lot of business passengers want to do work on the flight and it is difficult to operate your laptop when you are surrounded by low-fare loving 300+ lbs people (probably straight from Hazzard County) billowing over into your seat. Plus, don't forget that business people love strong frequent flier programs that can get them tickets to Paris...

What do you mean, "legroom could be better"? I might be mistaken, but our 34" seat pitch (now that we removed a row of seats) is the most in any coach class in the business. As far as "better food", you got that right. But, I overheard a business traveler recently state "I'll take a beer, big leather seat, bag of chips and ESPN anyday". Silly as it sounds a lot of people don't care about food anymore because traditionally airline food always sucked anyway. What is important is that people are well informed that they are not being fed. We make sure that the infomation flow is there and that the people that are flying on us know that they aren't getting a full blown meal. Having a nice selection of fairly priced food from business partners in the terminal is helpful as well.

Smart business travelers book ahead on the internet and pick out a good seat and often buy two to make a nest. It doesn't always work out of course, but it is common. Our FFP wasn't designed to be a strong incentive but more so a small (repeat small) way of sayings thanks to our loyal customers whether they are traveling on business or for pleasure.

See ya