Originally Posted by
percysmith
I think the cause is as much revenue-driven as cost cutting.
[ ... ]
There are some benefits of this initiative to revenue.
This initiative penalises cheapskates who create their own connections but will not affect premium corporate travelllers who are more than less likely have the benefit of assistance from a travel agency and will book through bookings.
Furthermore it eliminates connections that work but (individual) airlines have not contemplated - it gives revenue departments more control over fares.
Doesn't seem to be
working too well for BA. Giving away hotel rooms and rebooking hurts revenue. Driving customers away from your airline with bad service also hurts revenue.
OneWorld used to offer an incentive to book with them as much as possible by all their members interlining to each other. Now they offer a punishment for not booking the whole ticket at once or through a travel agent. (Neither of which may be possible in many cases.) Companies punishing users this way almost always causes a proportion of customers to take their business elsewhere.
Premium corporate travellers are also likely to have refundable tickets. If they do have a connection on a separate ticket and are delayed, they can just change their ticket. Then their J or F seat goes out empty. That can only hurt revenue.
Plus it's hard to put a price on the amount of abuse their staff will get for this policy change, the number of letters of complaint they will have to answer, and the general loss of reputation. Not a big deal for BA, whose reputation is poor anyhow, but amazing that CX would follow suit.