Originally Posted by
nerdbirdsjc
Consumers traveling in Economy Class have demonstrated that *price* is, far and away, the #1 driver of airline ticket buying decisions. Virtually all 21st century industry efforts to offer a domestic service differentiator to most pax (e.g., More Room Throughout Coach, meals at mealtime, etc.) have failed to result in tangible revenue/yield increases. The few customers who care about such things are taken care of through the FFP elite tiers.
I get you, but I don't mean "compete" in the sense of gain market share of customers by offering similar ticket prices as LCCs. I mean to be a competitive well-performing airline.
Almost all large legacy carriers get confused. They think that they should compete for market share of passengers that the LCCs are pulling away from them. But they do not figure out until too late that they should not be competing for this business.
Competition for LCC passengers requires having a low cost structure, which UA will never have. All they do by lowering ticket prices is to eat into their revenues without decreasing costs. That is why I say they have not learned the lessons of TED.
OK, if they provide a lower ticket price tier by the amount that FF miles costs them to provide, then they can access some of the LCC pax market. But they will be making a big mistake if they try to cut fares to LCC levels. UA is not built for that $hitfight.