Originally Posted by
mia_marlin
Imagine the outrage of some F class pax who found out they paid F and are being put on a regional jet for the domestic US leg. JetBlue certainly would be a better product in this scenario!
I mostly agree with you. The trick is awareness during the booking process, and some agents will tell the pax that the one segment is only available in Y, so that covers some of the problem. Most passengers generally assume that Y=Y so it matters less if you're on a CO ERJ with 31" pitch or a B6 A320 with 36" pitch because most people don't know the difference until they're already on the plane.
Originally Posted by
jetBlueNYFL
Well, IFE might not be that important to some on a 2-hour flight, but a route like JFK-PBI is airborne for about 2:30 (+/- a few minutes) plus it can be HOURS on the ground departing JFK due to the traffic, weather, etc. So, IFE on a flight to FL actually does make a difference most of the time.
And same goes for the mere 1-3" and 1.8" wider seat in F with DL's MD80...maybe it makes a difference on a longer flight, and even that is not much, but on a flight to FL, they can have their 2 inches for the price you have to pay to get it, unless you have status.
I wasn't suggesting that anyone pay for the F seat on the MD80. I was just pointing out that there are some tangible benefits that it provides. And there are a lot of people who do pay for F seats on NYC-Florida routes, as they are pretty close in price to Y fares - usually only $30-50 more. Folks who are buying the discount seats may not care, but someone who wants an F seat actually generally wants an F seat, not just a good Y seat. Whether they're making a wise decision or not isn't really something that we can decide for the (I'd never pay for an F seat to FL either, FWIW).
But the biggest issue with the lack of F cabin on B6 for alliances is that the other partner(s) need to feel whole in terms of earning and redemption within the group. AF and KE stopped redemptions of their F product by partners because the partners could not offer anything comparable, thereby putting KE/AF at a significant disadvantage. B6 would be doing the same thing to any partner they team up with. I'm not saying that it precludes a partnership, but it makes it more difficult. In the same way a passenger would be disappointed to come off a TATL J flight and end up in CO Y on an ERJ, imagine coming off a spacious B6 flight and then having to sit in Y on Aer Lingus. It is arguably just as bad based on the comments made that the minor extra space isn't really all that big a deal.
Oh, and adding partners would likely require them to copmletely rework the TrueBlue program and the way rewards are issued, unless a TATL/partner reward will cost the same number of points as a B6 reward. Otherwise how do you save the extra points for the TATL/partner reward since the TrueBlue reward is automatically issued.
I'd love to see it happen, as I think it would increase the value of the TrueBlue program and help B6 add more traffic, but I'm not betting on a significant strategic alliance anytime soon.