Frontier Airlines Chairman Calls Passengers “Spoiled Brats,” Buys $50B Worth of Planes
Carly Zinderman November 16, 2017
It seems that American travelers are spoiled brats that don’t understand the concept of true no-frills flights.
That is according to veteran airline investor Bill Franke. Franke made the somewhat inflammatory comments at a Dubai airshow where he spent $50 billion on a fleet of 430 planes. His company, Indigo Partners, owns shares in four low-cost airlines: Frontier Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Hungary-based Wizz Air, Mexico’s Volaris, and Chile’s Jetsmart. He has been Chairman of Wizz Air since 2004, and also serves as Chairman of Frontier Airlines.
After the announcement of the sale Franke told reporters, “The consumer is essentially like your teenage spoiled brat. They had been flying with all the amenities for ever and ever and that’s what they think they ought to get,” Franke said.
“They don’t want to pay any more for the ticket, they just want all the amenities,” he added.
Franke went on to explain that in Europe, around 40 percent of fliers opt for low cost carriers while the figure in the US is closer to six percent.
According to a statistics website, the actual number of fliers in the US opting for low cost carriers is 30 percent and includes airlines such as Delta, Southwest and American Airlines. Spirit and Frontier Airlines are classified by the site as ultra-low cost carriers.
The purchase of the planes indicates that there is room to grow in the budget travel field as more Americans get used to flying with fewer amenities in exchange for a lower price.
Indigo Partners is known for making a profit in a difficult sector. Franke is 80-years old and continues to find new niches to grow. He says that his budget airlines fulfill a void in travel where people would like to get on a plane but are priced out by the high cost of air travel. He remains unconcerned about competition from a surplus of airplanes because his planes go where other airlines may not.
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I tried Frontier and Spirit both. Neither one came out cheaper than AA. The initial ticket price was cheaper, but that wasn’t the end. I had to pay for my bag, which I just carry on to AA for free. It was cheaper to check it on Frontier and Spirit than carry it on, so I selected that. Then it still wasn’t over. I had to pay for each seat on flights that were almost empty. Every seat had a price premium. I even picked the cheapest seats in the back of the plane. $9 a seat for Frontier and $17 a seat for Spirit per flight. My AA flight was $290. Spirit was $311 and Frontier was a little less, but still over $300. The only way to make it cheaper would be to ditch the bag. Then they both dropped below AA. So, the question is simple. Is it worth saving $39 to $49 over the AA price? Maybe, what else is different? AA seats are more comfortable from my experience. The AA frequent flyer program is better. I’ll be Platinum next month, and next year, I’ll reach Executive Platinum with the amount I’m flying now. To me, the cheap airlines are worth it if you don’t have a bag. Otherwise, the price is lower for the major carriers from my experience. I looked into their frequent flyer programs, but I didn’t see a reason to choose it over AA. As another poster stated, flying is cheap right now. That makes it hard to compete on price. I get a flat rate reimbursement. If I could save by flying cheaper, I would. Unfortunately, I need a bag. That alone makes it cheaper to stay with AA. Carry on is free, and with Platinum, I can check 2 bags free if I need to. That means I can check my gun and ammunition free if I travel to a state that accepts my license to carry. I’m flying to the People’s Republic of California right now, so it doesn’t matter at the moment.
Agree with Ski! But, with only 4 major carriers left and load factors of 85%, the airlines don't need to compete for our "loyalty". When there were 10 major carriers and fares were regulated, then airlines competed for our business with "amenities" (since the fares were pretty much all the same).
ski has it right. The ones who are "spoiled brats" are the airline execs, like Franke, who believe that pax should be grateful that the airlines are allowing us to be nickel-and-dimed with fee after fee, with almost no loyalty appreciation, so that these execs can get their huge compensation. It's execs such as Franke, and their policies for pax, that have eliminated vestiges of the mutual appreciation that used to exist between pax and the airline of their loyalty. I would like to see a corporate requirement that airline execs fly a dozen RTs on their airline sitting in "torture class" after being barely tolerated to be allowed to fly.
What was previously included in the total price is now reclassified as an amenity. Not much incentive for loyalty when amenities are gone, media is filled with negative travel stories, and those at the top see pax as "spoiled brats" which lately seems to be the message. Can only imagine what staff who ask for a fair wage are called.
Not exactly "inflammatory" but fairly accurate. For years US passengers have shown an MO whereby they'll choose one ticket over another based on a VERY minimal price difference (sometimes 10 dollars or less) and then gripe about lack of amenities, food service, etc. Fares today are usually less than the same ticket would cost to travel by train and sometimes even via bus, but the complaints continue....