Originally Posted by
jephhy
CX/KA FAs pay more attention to F/J revenue pax vs op-ups because the revenue pax are
willing to pay for the service. In any business, one needs to find and retain the customers that are willing to pay for extra benefits and features that are offered...otherwise the biz model is not sustainable. CX/KA has to treat those passengers the best because they are the ones bringing in the most margin dollars for the company.
There are other reasons why Circuit City went out of business...cutting back on customer service is just one of the bad business decisions management made.
Yes, op-ups are most likely frequent flyer/elite status, but CX is making less margin on op-op pax who get full F/J service. There's a big difference in profitability between a frequent flyer/elite who pays full revenue for F/J vs one who pays for Y and gets the op-up.
So the same argument made for Circuit City could be made for CX...it's a bad business decision to treat op-op pax exactly the same as full revenue paying pax because the company is making less margin and diluting the value of its premium product. Pax get used to not paying for better service and over time, are less willing to pay full revenue for F/J.
Pax who get op-ups should feel fortunate, not entitled, that they can get a extra space, more comfortable seat, etc, without having to pay a cent extra. I'm always super happy when I get op-ops and I completely understand that the pax next to me who paid 4x the price of my Y ticket will get extra attention from the FA. My gf who's a KA FA also appreciates that perspective too.
Fare difference is the worst in Y fare. Someone could be paying 3x as much as the person sitting next to them depending on heaven knows how many variables. So should the FAs spend more time with Y pax paying more than other Y pax paying less?
It's all down to goodwill, and yes, FF good will, and yes like others said you are assuming FF who got op-up only flies Y, but many such as myself flies Y for biz but J for personal trips (hey, it's usually the other way around, people fly J for biz and Y for personal, but not me
)
It's not about entitlement, it's about embarrassment. By cutting service openly (different meals, different attitude of service) you are telling the pax they should be grateful for the op-up and thus shut up and don't expect the normal service but instead I will ignore you and your requests, instead of thank you for choosing CX when there are many other options available.
Personally, I have no problem if they reserve the meal and wine and the chocolate. However, all pax should expect friendly and attentive service. FAs/ISMs openly ignoring or treating op-up F people as inferior are the worst in my opinion.