Originally Posted by
Dover2Golf
I presume by that you mean reduced business class pricing in line with your usual complaints about A3?
No, I mean understanding market segmentation and pricing your product accordingly. Lufthansa, for example, has understood that many wealthy older people are happy to pay a significant premium for business travel if the price is right. So they offer highly discounted non-refundable/non-changeable P fares to those who are willing to book 6 months or so in advance. The prices are then raised as time goes on so that business travelers pay the full fare. Lufthansa can still make a good profit on their leisure business fares, especially on intra-Europe routes. By contrast, Aegean charge sky-high business fares from the outset and totally lose out on leisure travelers. Yesterday, I checked an Aegean flight from ATH to TXL for next June and found that they had six I class seats available out of 12 business seats, with the remaining seats offered for full price. It is no wonder that LH flights that I am on from Cyprus often have 11 rows of business class on an A321 and Aegean are lucky to operate with 3 on many routes. To improve profits, Aegean needs to rethink its business product and how to market it. Given that one can renew an A3*S card with two cheap 4-sector economy returns, does it really not make commercial sense to scrap the unnecessary upgrades and instead try to offload these 6-9 months out to wealthier leisure travelers?