Originally Posted by gemac
Why not allow AC access to any AA Elite flying the same day on a Y or better fare? The revenue lost on AC memberships would be dwarfed by the ticket revenue. You lose the $300-400 per year business travelers pay for AC membership, gain $10,000-50,000 in ticket revenue. Seems like a no-brainer to me.
I really don't think that free elite AC access on a Y/B ticket would be enough of an incentive, especially because the fare difference between Y/B and deep discount fares almost always is MUCH MORE than the annual AC membership fee, especially for elites. Why would an EXP spend $400+ more PER TICKET ALL YEAR LONG when she or he could get membership for a WHOLE YEAR for just $250, and then buy deep discounts? It doesn't make sense to me.
The real problem here is that AA's bottom line used to be supported by full-fare business travelers who increasingly are using Travelocity and other websites to book inventory that is supposed to be reserved for leisure travelers. There is no way around this in a free-market system (AA cannot force business travelers to buy higher fares), except by offering SIGNIFICANT perks to intice business travelers to spend more money to get from point A to point B and back again. Some airlines offer EQMs only on higher fares. Luckily, AA allows virtually all fares to earn EQMs and EQPs. So, it is a very sticky, problematic situation that AA tries to solve with its amazingly complex yield management system.