Originally Posted by
mduell
Removing 3 rows of F and adding 7 rows of whY - has premium demand imploded on this route? What's the mix of E+/E- going to be?
With the SAG contract no longer requiring three-cabin First in this market, I'd say First Class cabin demand has dropped precipitously. Could quite well be that on average, being able to sell an extra 30-35 seats in economy at an average fare of around $250 ($7.5k-$10k in additional revenue) might offset the paid passengers in the First Class cabin.
Agree with the poster that AA is going to have to rethink their strategy. Delta does quite well with 16 seat J cabins on their transcons (especially to LAX); Virgin America has the same seats as Delta and seems to do well and United is moving in that direction. Given that the UA J seats will be true lie-flat versus recliners found on DL and VX (and AA 3-cabin J on this route), UA will have the best non-AA F premium cabin here.