Originally Posted by
IAN-UK
You indulge in the rosy view of a convert. A less subjective analysis has to consider the very real risk of cost-conscious passengers normally in business-class finding the Y+ product attractive enough for them to desert the J-class cabin. It won't take the loss of many of these to wipe out gains from Y-migration.
Of course, there might well be a queue waiting to take up any spare seats in business-class: there again ......
That's an interesting point of view,
IAN-UK!
The entrepreneurial airlines - like BA - introduced Economy + approx. 11 to 12 years ago. The first route was London->New York also having a significant load of Business pax.
IMHO the down migration from J/C classes to Y+ didn't happen there and also won't happen on the few (remaining) Business passengers. Many companies have already slashed Business Class privileges for a large part of their employees. That said I see the low number of middle/upper managament people remaining where they are: In the Business Class cabin.
Especially if the larger accounts have negotiated decent discounts on Business Class travel.
Additionally this class in between offers completely new and unseen opportunities for enlarging customer loyalty. A wide opening for paid upsellings (e.g. by miles) will attract those flyers who endure NEK all year long and then can get a deal with their familiy flying Y+ to a far away holiday destination.
That sad I think the Y+ product will be especially successful on the longer routes from Germany like to the US West Coast and China/Japan/Far East Asia.