Originally Posted by
PaperGlider
I appreciate the good intentions here. There is a high level strategy shift that is apparent. Alaska is not brand building. Financial losses has been the reason they have turned hard into brand milking. It is like they are going to see how long until the public catches up with the fact that the J.D. Powers award and reputation was sooo last year. Near sighted focus on shaving every expense and raising prices until something breaks. So it is difficult to provide constructive suggestions with such a corporate strategy. For example, what else is more iconic for starting a well deserved special vacation then a pre-departure beverage. But that costs something more than a small bottle of water, so it's a non-starter. I'll give it some more thought.
If you read through the drivel in the other fora, you'd think there is no reason to fly anymore, as the food is crap, the service is variable, the seats are uncomfortable or troublesome, there is irregularity in the PDB service, boarding is a
quilombo, and so on.
Your PDB on the "well deserved special vacation" is no more or less important to an airline's success than my PDB on the "I need another few thousand miles" trip.
And where are you going to go? If you want reliable PDBs and IFE, you go to DL. If you want reliable better seat pitch in F, you stay with AS. If you want a lie flat transcon in limited markets, you take UA/AA/DL/B6. If you want orderly boarding, but no F, you go to WN. If you're in the back of the bus, you'll probably still vote for AS in any of these surveys.