Originally Posted by
elgringito
Kind of a sharp turnaround from your earlier post that "Another point - have you every TRIED to price out JetBlue? Guess what - you usually end up spending more.", wouldn't you say? An airline coach seat is perceived as an uncomfortable commodity and therefore, to use your words, "what would motivate you to choose a more expensive option"?
The premise that I have principally been responding to, and not agreeing with, is that the coach buying public would be willing to pay more for a more comfortable seat. If JetBlue really is perceived as having a superior product, as many have stated, then JetBlue would be charging a premium for this product. They are not able to do so, ergo, the public has shown itself unwilling to pay a premium. Bethune took this position when scoffing at American's more room in coach and the costly experiment by American proved him right. Argue until your face is blue about American's poor marketing (and they are arguably pretty good marketers) and not staying with the more room in coach program long enough (how long do you ride a dead horse), the fact remains the financial results did not justify sticking with that program or they would not have abandoned it. Companies do not readily make a decision to abandon an expensive and well advertised promotion unless it is a failure.
I have not flown Midwest in years, but I remember their four seats per row in a plane the legacy carriers would have had 5 seats per row. It was a great seat. If the public was really willing to pay a competitive premium for this product, they would have been expected to have had profitable results. They have had the same problems since September 11 that the legacy carriers have had and have not had as rapid a turnaround.
Southwest fills their planes, profitably, and not just from fuel hedges. They sell their product with few frills and have convinced the public to go to their booking site first, if not exclusively. It ain't because of their "services" or more comfortable seats.
I am an experienced flyer. I admit that all things being equal (no status, therefore no upgrade or preassigned exit row seating and no likelihood of international reward travel), based on the various discussions I have read about JetBlue, I would fly them in coach over Continental. However, I would not pay a premium of more than $10 to $20. I doubt the $10 or $20 would make up for the lost revenue from removing a row or two of seats. John Q public would be even less likely to pay this differential.
I guess I am totally missing your argument. I am saying that JetBlue offers a product that people actually feel justified in spending more for - more legroom, leather seats, better entertainment, and easier check-in. And as we pointed out before, JetBlue does usually price out more for many people. They sometimes offer a lower published fare, but you usually have to fly odd times to get those, when in fact you even can. Not to mention the fact that you can't book them through a normal site. JetBlue is NOT a low
price carrier, which for some reason everyone automatically assumes. They are a low
cost carrier. Which means their costs are lower, so they actually earn more money for the same given fare as the legacies.
Midwest is not loosing money hand over fist (as are several legacies). They are also 1) extremely susceptible to swings in business travel, since they are so dependent upon that sector. They also are strongly based in markets that are not the primary business travel markets - they have no real direct connections between the major business cities of the east, and thus require passengers to fly all the way to Milwaukee to get anywhere. The fact that they are even still flying is proof enough that they have the product to survive. They are doing this with aircraft that have high operating costs and through cities with low passenger counts.
I understand you don't see any value in your flying time. A couple hour flight to you is probably something so commonplace you barely remember it as soon as you get off the plane,. For a lot of people they don't fly that often and it makes a bigger impact. Everywhere else in this world products are sold because of better features, quality, and comforts. There is simply no logical reason why this does not hold true for the airline industry.