Fly VX, get the VX credit card, and get both.

So that'll get me ORD-LAX/SFO, which is about 10% of my flying. Yippie.

I was unaware such a creature existed...

I can guarantee customer service at the new American is complete garbage. The food is total swill in general and many respectable foreign airlines would be embarrassed to imagine serving such meals even in Y. Anything that may have been added back is quite minimal and akin to placing a band-aid over an amputation wound. I wouldn't be shocked to see AA charge for soft drinks at all.

I struggle to figure out what the point of status is at all these days. Why be loyal to an airline in the off chance you get an upgrade to a product of crappy quality anyway? The only time I choose AA/DL/UA over another airline is if it's severely difficult to make a trip work on some other carrier. VX is great, as is AS for shorter flights. Their F seats are just not very comfortable for anything over about 2.5-3 hours.

I'm am moving toward Jet Blue... the Mint product is far superior to AA 3-class trans-con... On Jet Blue Mint they serve Turley Zinfandel, Copain Pinot Noir, Chicken Pot Pie, Lobster Mac n Cheese and a Black Angus Burger...etc. etc.

On AA you get chicken and radioactive slop, beef and gew, or pasta and slime... all to wash it down with trailer trash wine.

I agree it's becoming stupid to fly American Airlines.

I'm surprised that this genius is still a sell-side "analyst" and hasn't been snapped up by Apple.

With his deep insights, imagine the good it would do with the iPhone. Under his leadership, it would be shipped without any apps, and you would be charged $5 to get the basic phone app, $10 to get the enhanced phone app that can dial 911, $5 to get the email app, and so on.

Imagine what this unbundling of the iPhone would to to Apple's earnings. Billions more. Pure genius! Not even Steve Jobs could come up with such a brilliant plan.


Some deep thinking indeed.

There are quite a few of us who figured it out.....after one experience with mint and CX for Asia travel the airpass was not renewed and as much business as possible goes to B6.

Btw, the other comment about Delta still offering snacks highlights how happy I'm sure Delta management was when they heard Oarker was taking over. It signaled they would be able to win the service war WITHOUT having to do much.

Cheers,
AA777

LOL!!!!

In a similar thread, I notice that the GA, CSR's and FA spend time answering questions that could be found else where (e.g. when will the flight arrive, an answer that could be found on the passengers itinerary?). So for every trivial question (triviality determined by the airline) there will be a charge. This will reduce the time wasted by the employees and could serve to reduce number of employes needed.

Other possible charges.
A charge for calling the airline (even if you do not book a ticket) as you have wasted the employes time.

If you do not check your bags in two hours in advance, you pay an additional charge of $5, this will prevent last minute crowding to check in.

If they have to throw away your thrash (your newspapers, McDonald bag etc), there will be charge for that as the FA's have to do more work.

If you listen to music or see a movie using your own headphones, you need to pay for as the airline has to pay for the movie rights.

The possibilities are endless.

That's fine. I'll just bring my water bottle on all flights then, and snacks, and go out of my way to never buy anything from the airline besides a ticket.
Let's see how much money they make from that.

The thing is that there is no real huge difference between Spirit and the legacies once fees are added on. Really, do you want to bring your own water bottle with you? Do you want to chance ending up in a 28 inch middle seat between Fat Albert and Buppa? How about if you did not/could not print your BP (AFAIK Spirit does not have a mobile BP)? What happens when your flight is canceled?

I think the Ultra low LCCs take advantage of the stupid factor.

Great points ^. I like that WN is different because it offers a different kind of competition. It's especially good for short haul where upgrades are less important. And I don't agree that WN is worse than AA/DL/UA. I don't think a full service coach airline exists, but the experience on the legacies has been really stripped down.

I've meet business travelers that fly all domestic and less long haul like trancons. They swear by WN, direct flights, no change fees, a simple product. I agree, there is very, very little difference between Y in the 4 majors other than MCE/E+. Even with that, you still have a very narrow seat. If you are short like me its not really the leg room its the elbow room.

Weak analogy: theaters may just break even on admission charges; the money is made at the snack bar. Airlines make money on the fare. Unlike some here, I do not know about this analyst, but a statement like "makes my blood boil" makes him appear to be a jerk (or worse). And, there is the health issue: with reduced humidity aboard, passengers should drink liquids (especially water) to prevent dehydration. Charging for water COULD be considered a risk to health.

Think we could see the DOT pass a "water must be free" (but charging for sodas/etc is allowed if desired) law?

Perhaps the DOT should just pass an 'analysts must provide all customers with the food and beverage of their choice' law...

This is a terrible comparison for more reasons than already mentioned.

1) If the cinema charges you $10 for a movie and $5 for a drink, the drink is a massive revenue increase. For every customer they annoy, they make a killing off another. If an airline charges you $200 for a ticket and $2 for a drink, the revenue increase is tiny. For every customer they annoy ... there is almost no upside!

2) A theatre isn't a super-low-humidity environment. Who needs a drink during a 2-hr movie? I don't, but I definitely need one during a 4-hr flight. Extortion over luxuries is always more accepted than extortion over necessities.

3) The plane crew would either have to take cash or plastic, both of which have significant overheads. The overhead of accepting credit cards for $2 a time is a significant proportion of the (airline) cost of the drink, which makes the whole exercise incredibly inefficient. Bad for the airline. Bad for the consumer. Good for the credit card processing companies. Maybe that's who this guy is really working for?