cur

huh

you're paying to from a-b

everything else is an amenity

sometimes things don't go the way you want. you just gotta roll with it

segacs

Untrue. You're paying various fare classes for various inclusions. You're also paying for the airline and its value proposition as advertised.

Just A to B would be one of the low budget, no frills carriers like Ryanair or someone. If I paid Ryanair prices, I'd expeect Ryanair service.

When you pay for anything -- from a pair of jeans to an airline ticket -- you pay for the value proposition as advertised. Yes, sometimes things go wrong, and in the grand scheme of things I don't feel like IFE is all that big of a deal (especially on a short haul). But it's still part of the marketed value proposition, and as such, AC still needs to either deliver it, or offer some sort of compensation.

That's the way it works in business. You can't just advertise A, deliver B, and then shrug and say "oh well, stuff happens".

Wpgjetse

Not really, you are confusing a serice base industry to a commodity industry. A service base industry has amenity. You don't get a free dinner in a restaurant because they ran out of serviette.

segacs

Okay, let's take any service industry then. You mentioned a restaurant. If you go to a steakhouse and they serve you a good piece of steak, but they make you eat it standing at the counter because they lost your reservation and don't have enough seats, plus you have to get it yourself from the kitchen because their wait staff is overworked, plus they don't have any beverages to accompany the steak, or the heat and electricity are cut so you have to eat in the cold / in the dark...

Well, arguably, you paid for a steak, that's it. But you also paid for a dining experience. If you didn't get that dining experience that you expected, I'd venture to say that you're going to leave a nasty review and never come back. And any restaurant manager worth his/her salt would offer apologies and compensation if there were those kinds of problems. Even though the menu only specified that you ordered a steak.

The difference is, there is plenty of competition and consumer choice in the restaurant industry. There's very little meaningful competition or consumer choice in the airline industry.

1Newflyer

Well, I would like to see you being put on an ... (donkey) for your next trip to get you from a-b. It would be interesting to find out how you roll on it. I can not come up with any amenity you would get on this type of transportation.

yulred

Then why provide IFE at all? No IFE = no non-functioning IFE = no problems/no complaints.

Interesting post, though. I can see why AC doesn't bother providing services as advertise: its most loyal customers have low standards.

Worth pointing out that the airlines that have the 'neediest' passengers offer better service. They even tailor their product to meet the needs of their 'neediest' markets.

Wpgjetse

Wow, Really, you are going with the that? I know one thing about the restaurant industry, they over sell all the time and never give compensation, even with all the competition.

segacs

You clearly need to eat at better restaurants.

Wpgjetse

.???? These are the better or best restaurants.

canadiancow

Ehhh I have a lot to add, but 95% of it is the same as segacs.

If you advertise "transportation from YYZ to YVR", that's what I expect. If you tell me I'm going to have a vast selection of TV and movies on a state-of-the-art IFE system, and then it doesn't work, then you aren't giving me what I paid for.

There's a very good reason there are laws about misleading advertising.

jsfrSE

Exactly.

For instance, this is how Air Canada promotes their premium economy, where a passenger purchasing a Premium economy fare is entitled to expect more than just bringing him from A to B.

Bartolo

Otherwise, why not just get the cheapest Tango fare possible?

Mauricio23

Clearly Wpgjetse needs to be put on a bus for his next YVR-YYZ flight. After all, airlines make no representation as to means of conveyance, timeliness, or amenities. When he gets there three days later he may have a different opinion. A freight ship for his next YVR-SYD would also do the trick.

Stranger

Alas, that is precisely in agreement with tariffs.

At one point, our son was flying back to Kinsgston, and weather was poor. AC charted a bus from YYZ because of the poor weather after having to stay overnight in Toronto. That was around 2000. AC paid for the hotel actually.

canadiancow

But there's a huge difference between "the aircraft cannot safely fly, so we're offering you a bus" and "the IFE we market to you as a differentiator isn't going to be available, too bad".