Originally Posted by
timfountain
What worries me is what will happen to business fliers who (like me) are forced to travel coach, for any duration of flight, via the cheapest carrier? Our travel system gives me very little if any flexibility apart from cheapest, so I will be dragged down into the cesspool. This is when I personally start flying a desk full time, or find a more flexible employer.
We're already dragged down into the cesspool.
Our corp system today nudges you to the cheapest coach flight, with pretty limited ability to resist the "nudge" and book something else.
Perhaps the good news is this: businesses are smart enough to realize that at the end of the day, negotiating a good systemwide contract discount with majors like UA, DL, or AA is a smarter solution than forcing all of their employees to go out and price every no-frills airline for every individual trip. So "the system" won't be nudging you to Spirit or some sort of "Ryanair America". Of course, all of the majors tend to head into the same cesspools in unison, so that won't help you escape industry trends. But I have to think that the big carriers will at least have some better options and *some* perks for the 50,000-100,000 mile fliers.
In my experience today, I have the hardest time getting a ticket when I *want* the non-alliance carrier. e.g., A short cheap Southwest nonstop for a trip to downtown Dallas... I have to get a human involved and explain why I don't want the "system" options.