Originally Posted by
Baze
Yet this model is very similar to what hotel chains do. At the Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Marriott Fairfield in level you get lots of free stuff included in your cheap rate. Stay at their upper end hotels and expect to pay separately for everything. Yes some are thrown if for the different elite levels but it is a la carte.
Of course, but to me the difference between to hotel and airline business models is that if you pay more for a hotel (in a given market, on a given date) you will get a better product/location.
The airline pricing model is so much more complex that it defies any comparison with hotel prices, since passengers can fly in the same cabin of service on the same flight with tremendous disparities in cost.
But, as a rule, legacies used to market themselves as "full service" airlines which justified their generally higher cost.
Nowadays, one is more likely to receive a better product (at least in Y) on an LCC than with a legacy.
Of course, in many cases, the LCC's do not have cheaper fares than the legacies, but carriers such as WN and B6 do have a certain minimum standard which legacies cannot match with their regional carrier partners.