Originally Posted by
McFlyPHL
Frankly, the total distance/segments flown really don't matter. What matters is the absolute margin from a given passenger over a given time period (defined by the airline as a year).
You are correct that margin would be the best standard from US' standpoint, but whether miles, segments, or spend none of those provides margin - revenue from vs cost of a passenger. It's in the cost of a passenger that miles/segments matters. The best method of measuring cost unfortunately has the cost vary across every flight every day so cost per trip vs revenue per trip is the next best, using averages for trip cost and revenue per trip.
But miles/segments absolutely do matter on the cost side of the ledger. With inaccurate cost input, margin output is meaningless nonsense. The more miles/segments flown for a given spend, the greater the cost in general (whether mainline or Express is an important distinction).
There's just no way to argue that miles/segments don't matter under the current scheme.
Jim