chip chip chip™, the profits go SPROING! (2Q net income doubles)
#1
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,376
chip chip chip™, the profits go SPROING! (2Q net income doubles)
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/alaska...120000705.html
Kind of hard to make the argument that the beancounters don't know what they are doing if they're raking in cash and beating that 10% ROIC figure they talked about a few years ago...
"Significantly higher revenues driven by strong demand, our growing route network and our preferred product led to a record second quarter profit," CEO Brad Tilden said. "Our people are doing a terrific job, and I want to thank them for running a safe operation, taking great care of our customers and producing these excellent results."
Achieved trailing twelve-month return on invested capital of 12.3 percent, compared to 11.5 percent in the twelve months ended June 30, 2011.
#3
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: GEG
Programs: Hilton Diamond, Hertz PC, Delta Silver
Posts: 475
for as much complaining I hear about the chipping away of services on AS, you'd think many of you would have taken off to greener pastures - but yet you continue to fly them. They must still be doing something right.
#5
Join Date: May 2006
Location: TUS/PDX
Programs: WN CP/A-List, AS MVPG75K
Posts: 5,798
#6
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Treasure Coast, FL
Programs: DL Diamond, Marriott LT Plat, HH Diamond, Avis Preferred Plus, National Executive
Posts: 4,578
#7
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Treasure Coast, FL
Programs: DL Diamond, Marriott LT Plat, HH Diamond, Avis Preferred Plus, National Executive
Posts: 4,578
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/alaska...120000705.html
Kind of hard to make the argument that the beancounters don't know what they are doing if they're raking in cash and beating that 10% ROIC figure they talked about a few years ago...
Kind of hard to make the argument that the beancounters don't know what they are doing if they're raking in cash and beating that 10% ROIC figure they talked about a few years ago...
Still think AS treats me very well and have had no issues with the changes made recently.
To each their own of course.
#8
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: SEA
Programs: AS Million Miler since 2011, Lifetime MVPG
Posts: 853
Alaska Air Group 2Q net income doubles
SEATTLE —
The parent of Alaska Airlines said Thursday that second-quarter profit more than doubled with the help of full airplanes and higher fares.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...yndication=rss
I don't think our perks are ever going to come back.
The parent of Alaska Airlines said Thursday that second-quarter profit more than doubled with the help of full airplanes and higher fares.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...yndication=rss
I don't think our perks are ever going to come back.
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: BOS/ORH
Programs: AS 75K
Posts: 18,323
I wonder if a decrease of baggage allowances if coming for elites:
Hopefully better enforcement of carry on limits will come first
The company said money from bag fees in the first half of 2012 fell $4 million to $76 million. Executives said more customers were avoiding the fees by carrying bags on board or getting elite frequent-flier status on Alaska or its partner airlines. Most airlines waive bag fees for elite members.
#10
Join Date: Jan 2001
Posts: 2,834
AS has taken away so many benefits lately in its regression to the mean. Whether it makes good business sense, time will tell. The value in creating fanatics for your brand is difficult to measure, but surely AS will find out whether or not "chipping away" that attribute contributes to long term financial success. Maybe it's smart to be just a little bit better than average but that doesn't mean we have to enjoy it, especially when the contrast with how it used to be is so evident.
Agreed there isn't a better alternative, especially in a captive market.
Agreed there isn't a better alternative, especially in a captive market.
#11
#12
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: SEA
Programs: AS MVP, Hhonors Gold, National Executive, Identity Gold, MLife Gold
Posts: 2,687
Well said! ^
#13
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: JNU
Programs: HH D, AS MM/MVPG for life/AL, Awesome Wipes VIP Club, NEXUS, Hertz 5-Star Gold
Posts: 2,893
As for your statement about "plenty of options" - that may apply to folks based in Seattle, LA, or the like. Not so much here in Juneau.
#15
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Abbotsford, BC, Canada
Programs: Marriott Gold, HHonors Gold, IHG Silver, Aeroplan 25K, DVC
Posts: 310
1. I cancelled one of two BofA Canada AS credit cards. I had recently paid the renewal fee on this card, and the last companion certificate I received is grandfathered. It will be used for a SEA-MCO flight in fall 2013.
2. I shifted most of my spending away from my other BofA card (just a few pre-authorized items remain, otherwise this is now a back up card). This is as much to do with the lack of on-line access and electronic downloads as it is the changes to the card.
So BofA Canada has lost some business from me, but it looks like the AS CC business in Canada is a bit of a white elephant for them (they managed to sell off the rest of MBNA to TD Bank) so they may not care.
Now as to future actions. I'm not a road warrior, and I'm not MVP. I take between 1-4 leisure flights on AS per year, depending on what else I'm doing. AS hasn't lost any business from me yet. I've still got my SEA-MCO flight for this fall and fall 2013. But they will probably lose some in the future. AS had become my default airline for flights in or to the US. Now instead of automatically booking AS, I'll look at all the options, and inevitably some of those trips will end up with other carriers. A severely degraded loyalty program doesn't really do much to engender loyalty. My spend with AS probably won't change in 2012, it may dip in 2013, and it may cease in 2014.
Will this impact AS? Probably not much and not right away. Perhaps a lot of people are not flying AS because of a great loyalty program, but because they have the most convenient flight times or direct flights. You can go a lot of places direct out of SEA on AS that require a connection on other carriers. The business road warriors are going to value their time more than the loss of a great benefit that no other airline was offering anyways. So perhaps AS will still do well. In any case, it may be many months or even a couple of years, before they would notice a significant business fall off, and then they would blame it on something else.