OH-LGG

Removed capacity from Asia in feb? I dont think so because capacity was increased from February 2017.

On which Asian routes capacity was removed?

intuition

As the chargeable seat selection is one of pillars in airline's new economy, don't expect them to empower employees to bypass that fee...

It would be nice to be able to link 2 PNRs so that my tier perks can be used on those travelling with me. It is not just seat selection that presents a problem. Priority boarding is another situation where the entourage is split up.

One can whish that they launch a proper family program in april and that this is added. But I wouldn't hold my breath for tier members being able to select seats for random co-workers.


I agree in general on the importance of empowering staff. Customer service is generally underrated as a tool to keep existing customers happy, ie making them returning customers. Marketing departments spend millions on brand marketing while CS agents are an untapped resource. And for airlines, cabin crew are even more important as they are with the customer through out the delivery of the product.
As for that last part it seems though as finnair is moving in a positive direction.

No idea what routes, but ASK fell to 1572 million km, the lowest number since the great increase of S2017

OK, I'm going to modify that a bit
ASK per month is naturally lower in short months, so that explains the "drop". However, RPK didn't see the equivalent drop so still a seasonal record high LF.

OH-LGG

Fell?
Feb 2017 ASK was 1267,2 and in Feb 2018 it was 1572,2. So capacity was increased 24% on Asian routes and those routes are CKG, GOI, HKG, SIN, BKK.
July 2017 ASK was 1681,6

intuition

yes, it fell in comparison to january. This as I was looking for explanation for a momentary change, not a structural change. Comparing to last year won't be helpful as the "big leap" occured in may/june 2017. If you increase somthing in june by 30% and by next feb the year-on-year is only 24% increase, then something has fallen, right?

But as I said, such analysis needs to be done on a average day basis as feb is only 28 production days. Doing so, one can see the increase in capacity in feb (minor increase 55,3 to 56,2 Million ASK). So from that it is clear my claim of decrease capacity was wrong. But overall conclusion holds - feb saw a record high RPK leading to a seasonal unusually high loadfactor.

A record high RPK is very likely correlated with a low F availability. We can't say if there is causality but I'd say that if there are record numbers in revenue, there are less F.

NoWindowSeat

Uh, I feel for you too...booked 3 weeks before and not a single comfort seat available? MIA must be full on holiday travelers at this time of year so flights are full for sure, upgrades requested very early etc...

FFlash

Nice graph. I paid attention to the revenue spike months ago which seems to stay. Looking at available seat trend it follows, so I would not conclude the RPK is due to lowering F seats. Could the reason be a permanent seat nr per plane, i.e. cabin modifications with squeezing more seats per plane?

FFlash

oh, this was about Asia traffic so I answer myself no, it cannot be. Short-haul, the answer could have been yes perhaps.

intuition

That spike is that they were able to sell all the added capacity last summer. Then autumn is a bit slower and then picking up again in Q1. Similar each year so it is seasonal changes but as they added a lot of capacity S17 it is good to see they are able to keep load high.

As for shorthaul, europeean chart below. Very strong seasonal pattern here. ASK growth is much more gradual here than in Asia, so no "chock" increase in S17, albeit 2017 is growing faster than 2016. I'd say the re-configs are working there way into the ASK numbers.

As for the F <-> RPK correlation, it is impossible to know if they sold more revenue and therefor has less F, or if they gave away less F and therefor had more seats to sell as revenue tickets. RPK only says seats were paid for, not how well paid they were.

Also, we don't know anything about LF in Y and J respectively. While high J load probably will lead to less F, high Y load might lead to more F.

Jainzar

Just to understand this: if I have a Y revenue ticket and it is upgraded to "F" (which can be done with money, points or vouchers) is it then a revenue or non-revenue ticket?

WilcoRoger

Revenue ticket

sulkkis

The_Director

Not perhaps a soft perk...but had definitely to do something with me being a Plat.

I checked in in the morning at LAX trough the AA Flagship checkin, and I asked the lady if the J is full, I was tired and figure I could even by me an upgrade. Nope...it's fully sold out. 20/20. Well, I was escorted trough a fully packed line to the security check and passed from curb to lounge in like 10 minutes. I used the Qantas First Lounge, because it's awesome. Like 5 minutes before boarding I headed to the adjacent terminal for my flight to JFK. I had selected a prem.eco. seat, 11D and my timing was perfect, came to the gate, no line, walked in as they announced for the next group to come to the gate. I sat down, pulled my headset, and myself comfortable. The plane was fully boarded, and we are just ready to close the doors. Last people walking and putting their carry on's in the overhead bins, as my first name is called. I look up and behind a lady is a young purser calling my name. He's super sorry for the trouble, as is the lady next to him. I get handed a new ticket, and he asks me to gather my stuff and move to 8C in J.

I guess overbooked flight and no AA FF's to outrank me. (Flight was AA metal, AA code bought trough AY.)

Happy as clam.

With a secured upgrade for the JFK-HEL flight, my transition from LAX to HEL was a breeze.

FlyingFinn

Dude, you can buy the day's paper at R-Kioski for less than that. There's one right next door to the non-Schengen lounge entrance. Of course that only works for departures ex-HEL, but still...

LoungeEnthusiast

ffay005

Oh, don't remind me of the garlic bread. I still miss it every time I fly long haul.