GK virtually bet the house on no-fee branding against the unsolicited advice of most industry analysts. He had the and stay the course, win or lose. Very few CEOs these days have that kind of courage. Herb was one of them.
You can accuse GK of mistaken decisions, but not of aversion to risk.
Sorry, I'm not buying it. First off, GK was at the time one of about eight or so USA major carrier CEOs. Is it your assertion that dramatically fewer than one in eight CEOs in this country choose to take any path other than the one followed by all their competitors? Have competitive corporations really become that homogeneous? Perhaps so; I don't know, but I hope not.
Second, let's look back at GK's "guts to break from the pack." Recall prior discussion as to why SWA chose not to implement change fees:
Originally Posted by
ftnoob
WN doesn't charge change fees because they can't.
Think about the fees WN has had over the years: excess bag fees; award reissuance fees; more recently pet fees and UM fees. None of those fees were ever "attached" to a ticket. You have too many bags? Pay a fee to the lady at the counter when you drop them off. You want us to reissue an award? Send us the info and the money and someone in Dallas will take care of it. Pet or minor? Pay the nice lady at the counter. In every case there is a
gatekeeper to collect the fee and cause or allow something to happen.
Now think about the most common fees WN does not charge: fuel surcharge; change fee; short-notice award ticketing. All those fees are very closely tied to ticketing transactions. WN doesn't charge them
because they can't.
Is it appropriate to say a CEO is not risk adverse because in one particular situation he chose a path that did not align with his competition, when he chose that path largely because it was the only option available to him? Give me some examples of where GK had real choices and in which he brazenly chose the riskier course of action, and I'll reconsider my opinion.
(I admit GK probably could have chosen to adopt bag fees while eschewing change fees, but that's an obviously inferior marketing message, so I don't consider it a real option available to him at the time.)