Originally Posted by
BearX220
Of course, but take a 50-flight-per-year customer in, say, PHX with a nationwide trip agenda. Given a choice between having that customer fly 20/50 flights on AS or 50/50 on AA, which would AS prefer? Do they want a piece of that customer or not?
Again, how do these purity filters and base-shaving strategies help support the company? Especially when it's now ballooned into a 230-aircraft deal with no fortress market, embattled even on home ground (PNW) and in deep trouble in California.
They need more than a cohort of King / Snohomish / Pierce fans, people who don't travel to DL or AA destinations, to make that go.
If there’s someone in PHX that flies 20 trips a year to Seattle or Portland, I’m sure AS would love to have their business. Is this customer segment a priority for AS? No. A business can’t effectively target such small customer segments. If this segment is well served by the same products and services as the core segment, that’s great.
AS will never be the best airline or mileage program for customers outside of its core West Coast markets. Just like United will never be the best airline for people living in the Southeast, JetBlue will never be the best airline for people living on the West Coast, etc, etc.
Trying to be everything to everyone is a crappy strategy.