Originally Posted by
HeathrowGuy
1. LH and AC DO sell CO's own flights in connection with the 4-way marketing arrangment - as you may have noticed, it's now possible to put together TATL itineraries using a combination of flights and fares with all 4 A++ carriers. So CO's fee leads to the absurd result where you can buy CO flights through another airline for free while having to pay CO for the privilege of giving the airline your money.
Unlikely at the same fare, though. UA was selling CO flights for less than co.com, and I'm sure there are other pricing arbitrage opportunities out there using *A partners.
2. Alliances aside, the call center fee is a bad idea. Remember, customers being subjected to a fee are people already trying to give the airline money in the first place. I understand the other USA legacies do it, but candidly, the nickel-and-diming of airline customers has been so poorly executed in the USA that, on balance, it has probably done more harm than good to airline finances. Sure, airlines can raise a few hundred thousand to a a few million per day in revenues from nuisance fees, but doing so only promotes the very buying behaviors in customers that has led to the depression of ticket prices in the first place.
Well some fancypants MBA got the industry hooked on fees and unbundling - and now we have a reality for the US airline industry built on a totally customer unfriendly experience from purchase, to check-in to security to the flight and finally baggage claim. Unless you're an airline top tier, there is almost nothing redeeming about the US airline travel experience whatsover. Is it any wonder some people would like to undo deregulation and bring back the CAB?
I can understand charging fees to upsell extra services that are not part of the base transportation experience, but charging fees for the essential elements of air travel is just plain wrong - the problem is while the fancypants MBA can put up a chart that shows exactly how much revenue the fees generate, they can't put up a chart that shows how much was lost due to fees and other hassles because that data gets lost in the overall noise of travel cutbacks in the soft economy. Even in a good econonomy with strong travel numbers, the opportunity cost of the fees would be impossible to detect. All the execs see is positive revenue from the fees, so they are here to stay.