Originally Posted by
FDOS
As a former regular on BT and a lurker here, I thought I'd register and give you an opinion of the folks across there.
Firstly, there is a very hard core of regular posters who are business travellers, we are talking about people with a similar travel profile to LTN Phobia or Corporate Wage Slave. A lot of them are also successful business people, many having their own business. There are relatively few 'Tesco Travellers', although there are some. One also needs to remember that it is not a BA forum, so the focus is broader.
Of course, what we do not know is the profile of those who responded to the survey. Votes cast are 1522 to date, so a decent sample size, but the demographics/psychographics are unknown.
Sadly, the research question is poorly drafted, as it does not try to identify the shift between the old and new products and as a result, the 76.5% may also have declined CE at 34" pitch.
They should have phrased the question the lines of "Are you more or less likely to fly CE, when the seat pitch has been reduced to 30".
welcome to posting on FT and in particular the BAEC forum - good to have you here and hear your views.
I do also regularly read BT though - like here - the content can be leaning towards 'advertorials' at times but there are some very good sections and I am certainly pleased when I realise that a new edition is out that I can enjoy on flights.
Despite all the Tesco talk on here, we aren't all Tesco-travellers / armchair "wish I was a frequent traveller" on here (I personally love the diversity (and friendliness) on here which ranges from the mentioned "I travel very day" to those who want to travel efficiently even if it's only a few times a year.
As you say, I suspect the way the question is phrased is important and clearly any suggestion of a 'negative change' will mean people will respond saying they don't like it.
As said in my response (before fully digesting yours), I think we also need to bear in mind that neither here nor BT represents the travelling public therefore a survey that suggests that 3/4 of CE pax will vote with their feet needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. Be interesting to interview the same people again in 12 months time and a) ask them what they think of the new product and b) look at their travel patterns and see how much seat pitch really influences them (if they have any say over who they travel with - most of the time price or flight time (or indeed route - there aren't that many routes with that many airlines offering intra-European business class) dictates choice).
We shall see.
Happy Flying.