Originally Posted by
Eurynom0s
I feel like the ultimate problem here is framing. If they'd just come out and said that they'd decided they needed to raise fares, obviously nobody would like it but whatever, that's a thing that happens. But the doublethink about Saver fares being great for cost-conscious people while putting them at the old baseline main cabin price point pushes it into feeling a bit like they're insulting our intelligence.
This is what you get from marketing-informed corporate messaging these days: they will serve up a big stinking platter of sh*t then tell everyone it's gold nuggets and hope no one notices. Then, of course, if the blowback gets too intense, throw out a little faux pity pulpit candor and see if that works. It's true, the company's net income numbers have been lousy the last few years. The genius CPAs running the company (including Mr. Harrison) have no one to blame but themselves...and the harsh competitive market in which they have chosen to compete.
To be perfectly honest, the Saver Fare snafu has about zero impact on my travel life. But the same sort of smarmy disingenuousness that's been coming from the AS executive suite under Mr. Tilden (hard to forget the apologies to analysts on the Q4 earnings call for giving out excessive upgrades, then the sudden disappearance of many upgradeable fares...and the list goes on) has me moving on from AS. It's a challenge from PDX...and I'm betting that you SEA denizens are having an even harder time...but this airline is offering nothing different from the big legacy carriers with a much smaller route map and, frankly, an unremarkable and shrinking suite of benefits. Best wishes to all the remaining loyalists. It will be interesting to see where this ends up.