Originally Posted by PremEx
I've always loved oh-so-understanding "the airline must do this to stay profitable" posts. They really crack me up. Been reading those all over FlyerTalk for years now. They usually come from current or former employees or from FTers that have become...well...cushy with some top folks at the airline. "I had dinner with Gordo last night..."
Obviously diminishing your product is not necessary to maintaining profitability. What a riot!
No, actually, I have never worked for an airline nor met anyone in airline management.
I disagree that the product is being diminished. The product is a leather seat on a 737 with more legroom, fair fares, and friendly employees. That is not changing. If the only reason you fly Southwest is for Rapid Rewards, you are wasting your time. The other airlines have far more valuable award tickets.
I've also always loved the type of posts that say we must "understand" why an airline devalues it's program. Those always give me a huge laugh, too.
Why?
Because I'm a
consumer. It's not my job to be "partners" with my supplier or understand the whys of why they devalue their product. It's my job as a consumer to object to devaluations in product!! And if necessary cease to do as much business as before to object to product devaluations. It's my job to simply purchase the type and quality of product that suits my needs and satisfies me.
I sure wish I had a couple of posters in this thread as my customers! I'd love to reduce their yearly rebate with cries of "We need to do this to stay profitable" and then have them just roll over and say, "Oh sure. I understand completely. I'm a businessman too. Go ahead. In fact, I feel so sorry for you, here's a few extra orders."
Wish I lived in
that world! Unfortunately, my customers have always been much smarter and demanding than that. As well they should be.
Also, I see a lot of posts about Capacity Control success percentages. Let me clue you all in on something. All it takes is for
you to call to get the seat you want on the flight you want (that still has tons of seats available for sale on it), and be told "No awards. Sorry." Then
your failure rate becomes 100%! Doesn't matter what percentage of the total of all SW flyers' redemption rate is. You are suddenly a 100% loser on that or those flights. And I'm certain at that point, that's all the percentage points results you'll care about hearing.
If you were giving away rebates that were worth more than the product you were selling, of course your customers would protest a rebate cut. If you backed off and continued to give away the store, eventually you will go out of business and have no one to blame but yourself.