Originally Posted by
CdnFlier
This is one of the opportunities though - yes people will often book cheaper, whatever they can do to save (although as my friends age I’m noticing quite a few more willing to pay for PE Int’l or even J domestic), but people also don’t know what they are buying.
If the cheapest flight/seat included one of the videos of WS pax sitting down, or some way for a person to reliably understand the size of the seat I would guess that a solid percentage of those folks would pay more for a bigger seat.
People buy flights months in advance with no real idea of what the seat will be, nevermind aircraft swaps, so it’s not a shock they complain when they realize how tiny the actually seat is.
I am seeing the same thing amongst my friend and peer group. Yes there continues to be a large group that buys simply based on price, but there is also an enlarging group that is choosing based on comfort and associated services. It's why we've seen the upgrade availability shrink and it is why there is a shift towards more of a premium footprint. Clearly, the airline(s) are using the abundant data they have to make these decisions on how they approach aircraft configuration and such. Clearly it is a balance, and watching WS potentially backtrack, may reflect getting the balance wrong. We'll see what happens with AC as the changes they are making are implemented.