Originally Posted by oontiveros
Yes those do detract...but i think service comes to mind for me. Don't care for snippy argumentative matrons on long hauls (transpac mainly mind you) who do not understand what decent levels of service means. I now (over the past few years already) only buy premium long haul tickets from SQ, CX and TG (amongst others) and cheap econ tickets from UA to upgrade with SWUs. If service was consistently good, i'd change my buying patterns.
I completely agree with this poster. When UA's service was better, I did give them more high yield business. Now I just buy cheap tix and upgrade when necessary. The OP mentioned that the "average" customer isn't affected by caviar in first class and service related issues...but lets remember that "average" customers are not the ones around whom the mainstream airline industry have built their business model. Caviar and gracious flight attendants are very important to people who spend thousands of dollars to fly around the world. Look at the foreign competition and also look at UA's books prior to '00. Most of their revenue came from premium customers who were evidently happy with the service. The tables are quickly turning.