Originally Posted by
eternaltransit
Now that DXB's visitor strategy is to target rich/rich-adjacent (e.g. influencers/aspirational travellers) - that is not really orthogonal to "loyal flyers" - because EK's own experience is that there is no such thing as loyal flyers. Their pax fly for network and price - or something external to EK (such as DXB marketing) brings them on board. As long as the product is adequate compared to what else is on the route, then they fill the planes (EK being able to fill their substandard J products is testament to the viability of that strategy).
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I got a chuckle out of this as it describes my situation just about perfectly. I travel in business class several times a year from the US to cities in southern India (not Mumbai or Delhi). Now, there are many options for travel to BOM or DEL but having suffered through unpleasant transits in those airports, I try to book direct flights nowadays. That mostly leaves BA, EK and QR as viable options. The lounges were very crowded in LHR when I traveled on BA last June so, more or less on a whim, I decided to try EK for my current trip. I can confirm that EK is "adequate" compared to BA. Given the devaluation of FF programs in general, I am not particularly loyal to any airline nowadays.