Originally Posted by
TWA Fan 1
They already have multiple product offerings. They have a sub-fleet of BF aircraft which, of course, primarily service long-haul international but can also be seen flying to Hawaii and occasionally on a number of domestic routes such as EWR-LAX and IAH-EWR.
They have a fleet of domestic mainline a/c which primarily fly domestically, but also internationally to the Caribbean and northern Latin America.
They own and sub-contract a fleet of RJ's and turbo-props that can be seen flying on numerous routes where mainline a/c also fly. RJ's also fly internationally, on short-haul routes.
So the product is hardly uniform.
I disagree. CO has three products; economy, domestic first, international business. The product that they sell in consistent across the carrier, with the slight exception of Hawaii where they have a scaled down Business First service (still the best US carrier to Hawaii). The fact that they fly 757's to Vegas with BusinessFirst seats doesn't mean that the public expects business class type of service. They sell the product as domestic first, the fact that they happen to have a nicer seat is considered a bonus.
The crux of the problem is they either have to do E+ on every long haul airplane or none. They cycle their planes continually throughout the system in order to maximize utilization. They don't have the option of dedicating a sub fleet to certain markets where E+ works and other planes where they need more economy capacity.
The biggest obstacle is the 757 fleet. The plane is not wide enough to do a 3-2 scenario (a likely cross section for E+). CO flies 777, 767, and 757 interchangeably in many European markets. If the 757 can't support E+ there is no way you could sell a consistent product without having a potential logistics nightmare on your hands.
As for Larry being a bean counter, last I checked CO was a business like any other. He is responsible to his employees and his shareholders. If putting E+ in to make your life easier means taking a hit on profitability then he's not going to do it. Plus you keep saying they're leaving money on the table, but I have yet to see any evidence that actually proves that point. You have no idea with the cost implications are for adding new seats, new catering issues, product differentiation, revenue spill from Business Class passengers, IT issues etc. Looking at published fares on a given day is absolutely meaningless. Like I said earlier, fly BA or VS to Europe instead.