cerealmarketer

Here are some facts.

So the ancillary growth rate last quarter was about 8%. This quarter was 11%.

Economy Plus led that growth, not upgrade sales.

This was the first full quarter Economy Plus was available in Amadeus / Sabre. They also improved the process of re-seating when there is an aircraft swap, so prepaid E+ customers have a better shot at keeping their seats.

"Ancillary revenue continued to grow in the third quarter, increasing approximately 11% per passenger and keeping us on track to achieve $3 billion in ancillary revenue in 2014.

During the quarter, Economy Plus revenue increased by double digits due to enhanced pricing optimization and a lower refund rate. We decreased the refund rate by implementing an improved solution for reseating customers during aircraft swaps. Additionally, we recently began to sell Economy Plus through the Amadeus and Sabre distribution systems, allowing our travel management partners and travel agencies to seamlessly book extra-legroom seats for our customers, further driving additional Economy Plus sales. We are pleased with the progress we're making on improving our revenue thus far, and we still have many more opportunities to optimize the value of our network."


What they did do though was improve non-ancillary first class sales. The premium paid first class load went to 40%, up from 28% last year. Delta is in the 50% range and has led the 'sell it for cheap' charge.

"our recently restructured premium cabin fares on many of our domestic and short-haul Latin flights added 0.5 point of PRASM in the third quarter and increased the premium payload factor on these routes by 12 points year-over-year to 40%. Second, our recent changes to the network and schedule are improving the "

Sorry guys, this is not the 'TOD' day of departure upgrades. It's making the advance price of first class competitive with the competition.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/2590...pt?part=single