Originally Posted by
BER Flyer
Absolutely, happens every day. Austrian is there to satisfy the lower end of the scale, Swiss and LH for the premium traffic. Has nothing to do with missmanagement, if OS is pumping up their business the money will go directly to LH. There is a reason why most major european Airlines which took over another, smaller one kept them as a separate company with their own branding.
There are several markets whithin europe were both AF and KL fighting each other, for instance the prices for flights from BER-IST can vary as much as 200% between AF and KL. As long as i book any of the two the money stays with the family.
As I said, we seem to have figured out why Europe has such low GDP.
In all seriousness, though, you kind of subvert your own point when you acknowledge that the separate branding and discussion of the lower end of the scale. Implicit is that the two brands are complimentary, not competitive.