Originally Posted by www.iflyswa.com
It's important to keep two issues separate. One is what frequent flyers want. Obviously, FF would vote to keep first class. But the key question is whether first class if profitable. That really hinges on whether the opportunity to upgrade results in enough increased loyalty to translate into enough extra revenue to justify the cost of a first class section. I suspect that on shorter routes and routes that primarily cater to leisure travelers, the profit equation does not justify a first class section.
The road to hell is paved by examining routes for profitability on a case by case basis. The network is what is important -- and the network will not be healthy without a mix. Maximization of total profit is not accomplished by maximizing each revenue opportunity individually. Nor is it accomplished by filling each and every seat on every flight. "Slack" is necessary for optimal performance of the system as a whole.
There are whole branches of mathematics that deal with this stuff. It concerns me to hear the people in charge of these decisions at US Airways talk as if they're acting on vigilante impulses to remove supposedly unprofitable elements from the mix. I surely hope they have better models and justifications than some simple minded claptrap about "leisure routes".