Interesting data on AS consumer satisfaction
 

See here - the data is a few years old, but shows AS second only to WN in CS - and also shows how that was correlated with growth http://customerintimacyblog.files.wo.../blog30pic.jpg

Some background on the "net promoter" measure of customer satisfaction here http://www.customerthink.com/article...ure_of_success

few years old? :p TWA is still on there. Would be really cool to see a new comparison from 08 or 09. Nonetheless interesting. Id like to see where WN stacks up now since their fares aint nothing to brag about anymore. Also would be nice to see new results after premium seat fees, baggage fees, cup of water fees, pillow fees, holiday fees, and outrageous change fees have been implemented! DL might actually fall off the left side of the chart along with US

In general, price increases rarely affect NPS (unless handled badly), so I would not expect that aspect of things to have changed WN's score.

I live near SAN, and most everyone here loves WN. When I mention that I've never been able to find the big comfortable seats, and all WN does to reward me flying them is offer me the chance to do more of what I didn't want to do in the first place (ie fly coach) most people around here look at me like I'm from another planet. I'd bet that WN's score would be similar today, as it was a few years back.

It's probably because people there loved PSA and WN = (sorta) PSA.

I've never thought to compare AS and WN. They're completely different airlines, both with their own positives and negatives.

But they compete head-on at a lot of the markets in the West Coast.....and I bet a lot of potential customers are comparing them when buying their tickets.

WN's fare may not be something to brag about anymore, but their first two baggages are still free, so whoever comparing their fare to other airlines' fare need to consider that factor.

Alaska does the best job of creating the aura of customer concern, while, in reality, delivering less. They do such a good job of that, that this post will doubtlessly deliver strong negative comments about my assertions. That said, let's look at the facts. On a comparative basis, AS fares, especially premium, are higher. Advance upgrades on longer routes are almost non existent, even when seat maps show the F compartment nearly empty. Awards for premium seats are tough. RT transcons consume 100K miles, and shunt you to partner carriers. The supposed 50 off AS50, is capped at $250, meaning, unless you're going to California, it's really an AS20. On top of that, even though the use of that award can produce a ticket still costing $1000, awarded mileage for that trip is a fraction of what a coach ticket, bought for a third of that price, earns. Finally, as an example of how they look out for you, when Virgin America, a similar quality product, sought to invade AS territory with lower fares, rather than compete, Alaska chose to spend time and money, arguing with the government that Virgin violated foreign ownership rules (they lost). Then there was the phony mock up of "proposed "Premium Cabins", a few years ago, where they tried to use a static display in a Renton warehouse, to justify going to 2+3 seating (it was outed on these threads, and quietly disappeared). They are the masters of asking you what you want, when they already know what they are going to do, while making it look like it was your idea. I know I'm just a malcontent, but the next time you take one of those free Gold lunches, figure what it really cost you.:D

Is it really that impossible to believe other people might value different things than you do?

Welcome to being in a secondary market. Nonstop service when you have a monopoly on the nonstop is likely to run higher.

I think your point is well taken, though, that if you compare AS's EWR-SEA to CO's EWR-SEA or AA"s SEA-JFK, thanks to AS clamping down on upgradeable fares at the time of purchase, there's no real analogue to CO's M+ fare and AA's P fares (and yes, AS F is quite a bit more expensive than those, though pure F all the prices are comparable).

However, if AS is selling out F on SEA-EWR anyway and getting MORE revenue out of their F cabin by selling pure F... why would you expect them to leave money on the table?

We simply don't know if they've optimized revenue or not. That is the name of the game for selling fares to your F cabin, no?

I've flown in F on a G/T "hot Deals" fare during the last 12 months on ORD-SEA, DFW-SEA, SEA-MCO-SEA, and BOS-SEA (missing the upgrade only on SEA-BOS).

5/6 for upgrades on midcon/transcon on very cheap fares doesn't say to ME that upgrades are non-existent. I would believe, though, that EWR and DCA are pretty jammed.

This also depends on the route.

Huh? How is this possible? AS doesn't have any access to partner inventory at anything other than 25K Y/50K F for domestic flights.

You're a bit out of date on that. As of February, it's $100/$200 off, 10K/20K, full mileage... and now more like an AS15. I won't argue with the value proposition being terrible, though.

Well, let's assume that we could implement things like opening up the U bucket at time of purchase and reversing the changes in the awards (I know, not bloody likely, but hear me out). Assume there's a substantial, non-trivial dollar cost to doing this (I think this is a safe assumption, given that AS likes making profits and probably did what it did because it was profitable for them to do so). Given that, what gets cut in order to get what you want? Where do you want to make tradeoffs? Do you think other flyers might want to make different tradeoffs?

It's not being a malcontent to realize you're not getting what you want out of a business relationship... but if you figure that AS wants profits and satisfied customers, their motives are pretty clear. Maybe they just don't think what you want will make them as much money and lead to customer satisfaction as what they think will.

AA is 65K for domestic F. Award inventory on DL is nonexistent (in my experience).

Still not 100K for an award, though.

And yeah, DL saver inventory sucks (as you can see on the DL board), plus their award calendar is routinely referred to as "delta.dumb".

The only way you can pay 100K for an AS domestic F award is on a straight AS itinerary, at peak times, which IMO is a complete ripoff, given that you can get TATL J for that and AS F just simply isn't that good of a product- but given that AS gives so much of their F away on cheap Y fares, why should you expect it to be very good? AS also has the "advantage" of being in a secondary transcon market where keeping up with the Jones's isn't very hard, since AA/DL/UA/CO premium F products don't show up in SEA very often, and the superior transcon F products require connections in SFO or LAX.

Let me clarify, DL inventory sucks on AS. I need to be in CLT in April and there were no DL seats for AS miles anywhere west of DEN. That was connecting in CVG, ATL, the NW hubs and so on. I ended up paying $475 for an upgradable ticket (lowest fare available).

This is a net result of DL hoarding their saver inventory.... despite claiming to be 'best in class'... the other issue former NW fliers are having with the triangle. It seems DL is willing to give away oodles of miles, but redeeming them at a saver level, forget it :(

If delta.dumb isn't particularly good at showing inventory to DL customers, I somehow doubt they're going to treat AS redemptions any better. (The AS MP Partner Desk has said to me "yeah, sometimes we're showing availability that doesn't exist, or not showing things that DO exist when it comes to DL").

rode AA lately? :rolleyes: I am about at the end with those folks and am at the point that Im going to avoid them at all costs. When you roll up to H1A and theres a flight scheduled to depart at 525 still in the boarding around and your flights to board at 525pm at H1A....uh that tells me AA dont even give a #@!)(! if flights leave on time. The whole instance gets worse but I shall write the whole story more in depth when I get back home. That was the start of a really #@#q2@ up afternoon filled with lies and pathetic service. Gave them plenty of service over a 3 year span and they do nothing but screw you over. Im pretty much done. Gonna be a lot more routing through MSP or DTW from now on even if it costs a few bucks more

Let me put a cap on my comment. The criticism on advance upgrades focuses on the policy of not releasing more at an earlier time. They are not selling all those seats. They simply have a philosophy that says, "why do it in advance, when we might sell them?". That's their prerogative, but by doing it that way, they make scoring a seat more akin to winning the Power Ball. I personally think that mitigates the value of a loyalty program. None of these airlines give a rat's rear end about their customer any more, but some try to pretend they do. I just tried to make some observations to support that thesis.

If you don't care about the relationship with your customer, one will find the customer doesn't care about the relationship with you... and might find someone else who does.

Loyalty programs, in the end, are (or should be) about maximizing revenue for the airline and the customer getting what they want out of handing over the revenue. If you're not getting what you want, can you demonstrate to AS that they're leaving money on the table? Because that's what an F cabin and airline revenue management/yield forecasting is all about- making sure that AS squeezes every nickel they can out of it. If your argument is "I need more U bucket immediate upgrade fares", the corollary has to be "because I'd buy more of them and you'd make more money". Are you certain that there are enough people in your boat that it would make a difference? Because if it is, AS revenue management is mismanaging a company asset by not maximizing revenue potential. THAT is the winning argument to getting what you want.

(I'd also argue that in this universe, AS should process upgrades like DL does- using FARE CLASS as the first tiebreaker after elite status, then date of purchase, instead of AA-style based on date of purchase as the first tie-breaker.)