I've not been impressed with DL's offerings - either in paid Y or free F.

I was impressed by VX's paid offerings - including the 'order at your leisure using the touchscreen' process. About one cup less mayo on their wrap, and I would have labeled it 'stellar.' Considering how none of VX's staff look like they eat solid food, I was surprised how unhealthy their sandwich was.

I am pretty shocked to hear the BOB/pillow/meals rumor actually has some traction to it. I wonder what other changes are afoot. 'Free meals' has been a marketing cornerstone at CO for ages, and given the tiny incremental cost involved, would be somewhat silly to discontinue.

Now if they offered a basic free meal with a 'paid' upgraded option, that would be OK. I think they better study the number of folks paying for DirecTV before they start adding more a la carte options....and those pillow/blanket kits better be free in F.

It's an incremental cost, but it's also a lost opportunity. Now that carriers are making money (not just beaking even) off their offerings, who knows what CO is missing out on here.




I would rather have free DTV than a free meal, but at $6 for DTV vs. $2-$3 or so it costs them to have that meal, the economics aren't there. Then again, if they went to DTV and offered them $2/seat for every filled seat vs. $6 for the % of people who buy it, DTV might agree to it.

Of course, that wouldn't help subsidize CO's catering operation, so they may not be up to that sort of arrangement.

Do people really fly CO because we offer meals at mealtime over price,convenience,price,reliability,price,shiny new planes,price,Direct TV,price,sexy stew or did I mention price?

Stats show that 20% of the business travelers generate 80% of the revenue for the majors.

You mention price repeatedly, but it's price and schedule that are usually the most important factors. Not necessarily in that order.

The leisure traveler (80%) is all about price.

Is that CO's target customer?

If this is true, what happens to your handle?

I can use it BF still. Maybe I'll change my handle to FreePopor$5Slop?


All I know is the boss says many times they cant raise fares because the conumer is price sensetive to a $10 or $20 fare hike.

Its not really all I know,but you get my drift.

Sadly it is true, the advent of 'expedia' 'travelocity' 'cheaptickets' and the price compare engines like kayak have done a number on the pricing. The only way to really solve it would be for all carriers to mark their prices up, and if they happened all at once imagein the investigations that would happen for 'price fixing'. where the real fact of the matter is that airlines are killing themselves to get that 'lowest price' on these comparison engines.
It is going to take a lot to try to change that lowest cost is best mentality, but it is hard to educate people that cheapest is not always best.
Look at the great success of walmart by supposedly being the 'cheapest' on everything while destroying all around them.

Yes and no. Even infrequent leisure travelers are becoming price savvy and are starting to figure out that A->B on major airline 1 is not the same total cost as A->B on major airline 2.

Southwest is really pumping this differentiation in their recent marketing campaigns.

WN rightfully points out that their price of $200 might be $35 more than a sample major airline, but after checking a couple bags, ordering lunch onboard and watching a movie in both directions, the total cost on that major airline suddenly becomes $75 more than Southwest.

This is the Achilles heal of a low base price + a la carte service model. Once the savvy consumer calculates their spend on bags, meals and a movie, they'll likely decide to spend slightly more in base airfare on an airline that doesn't nickel and dime.

not seeing that people understand this in many numbers at all. WN DOESN'T participate in the fare compare engines and drives their traffic direct, and THAT is the reason they don't have the same issue.

Many of those same people that buy from Wn, don't even check elsewhere, much like a walmart shopper that thinks walmart is always cheapest.

now that being said, getting out of the stupid fare comparison sites may not be a bad deal. or to offer those that buy direct more(checked bags, and other things) than that that buy ala carte on such sites. Focus people on buying direct.

[QUOTE=ConciergeMike;12453445]I declined a reuben in F in favor of the turkey grenade from Y, but kept the F tomato soup. One of the better domestic F meals I can remember.


Before the latest enhancement where you got both soup and salad with the entree, I used to ask for one of the extra salads if they had them from Y...to at least feel like I was eating something green if I took the option that was just soup and an entree.

However when I was flying CNSGUM in F they told me they might be short on meals; when I asked if I could have something from Y they said that they couldn't serve Y food in F. Is that a rule with international flights, or was this just an issue of incorrect information?

There are enough infrequent fliers out there who either dont read the fine print,ignore it or just dont get it.Some people still ask if there is individual bottled water in Y(didn't even have that pre-9/11)where are the magazines?dont even bring a pen to fill out any paperwork.Sadly,its the FF'ers that are subsidizing Air Wally.

Which is why WN is spelling out the differentiation is very clear and simple terms

While I agree that price is the main driver for the majority of leisure flyers, that does not mean that these flyers have not learned that there are associated costs of flying that are not in the base price. These same travelers are now calculating those costs when considering which carrier to fly. As time goes on, even once a year flyers fly and realize that they were burned by those a la carte add on costs. And it anyone who flys based on cost of the ticket will remember being hit with those add on costs.


As I said above, you are going to find fewer and fewer of these passengers in the future because they are going to eventually fly and remember the "gotcha" of those add ons. They really remember baggage fees. Once they have been burned, they will take associated costs into consideration and the longer all the airlines pile fees onto the base cost of a ticket, the more knowledgable the population will become about ticket pricing.