Originally Posted by
LondonElite
Indeed. The airlines' best customers are those that regularly book long-haul business class, usually in the form of corporate agreements. The occasional F flyers, or those who book 100 deep discount economy fares per year, are simple SLF (self-loading freight) as far as the CEO is concerned.
When I worked for hotels, our "best customers" were actually people that never spent a single night in our hotel. They were the people that negotiated the corporate contracts that provided the bulk of our revenue. The most a single guest could provide is 365 (or 366) room nights each year. Yet, the person who controls a corporate contract provided thousands (or even tens of thousands) of rooms nights.
I've never worked at an airline. Still, I'd imagine that they'd have a similar mindset.