Cheers to One World for a masterstroke/Someone a *A has to get fired
 

It it clear that being a pricing leader has its drawbacks

*A RTW strategy was to raise the prices from major countries to create a rush of ticket sales before the new fares going into effect

One World stood back, watched and waited for Star Alliance to make their move. Now that *A decided to raise prices, the 10% discount with One World being announced on the very day that *A price increases go into effect is nothing short of a masterstroke, perfect timing and a PR coup.

While *A will likely receive a short term boost in ticket sales, One World now has a ten week window where it will be 20%+ less than *A, and as *A now has its foot in its mouth it will likely not move fares downward in the near future.

In short, the team that came up with the 10% for 10 weeks promo with One World should get an award. Value hungry travelers looking for deals may now try One World (who would not have if *A had not done anything with prices) and put further strain on *A premium passenger sales.

There will be at least one more person in the next unemployement report: the person that came up with the price for the *A RTW fares effective Feb 1

Considering that OW was quite a bit more expensive than *A in some countries to start with.. I don't think its that much of a coup by OW... Besides, both RTW products are quite different, one mileage based and another segment based... so they were never compared apples to apples before anyways...

The *A RTW fare increases were for origins with significantly devalued currencies. I expect OW will be following suit at some stage.

Still, it is nice their 10 year anniversary can benefit everyone as opposed to the *A 10 year anniversary promo which was a damp squib.

Last time I checked, the USD was the strongest currency of a bad bunch and prices have been hiked out of the U.S.. *A used the old line sales tactic of ' Price is going up, get your money in quick' to stimulate artificial demand. OW stood back and picked their moment. With the 10% sale with OW, and the price increase with *A the *A 29K fare is now 18% more than the DONE3. The *A 34K and 39K fare is now 26% more than DONE4 and DONE4 fare.

Mileaege loyalty is one thing, but cash is cash. Anyone considering a *A RTW out of the U.S would have to take a long hard look at OW under this promo. In this time of uncertainty, the last thing any business should do is anything to alienate a loyal customer. All I am suggesting is that *A move put it in a vulnerable position to have customers now look at other options that would may not have done so otherwise

For us at FT it may seem as a coup by OW.
On the other hand, *A RTW do offer a much wider range of destinations and carriers.
(I have been on ca. 10 *A RTW whereas so far I have only been on one DoneX tickets ... nothing to do with price or Aliinace as I am both *G and OW Emerald but simply by schedule and destination served)

Yes, *A may have a wider range of routes but I still believe that letting *A raise their prices before introducing the OW fare sale was perfect timing. Perhaps there are routing where *A works better but for someone looking at say New York Frankfurt-Seoul -Hong Kong Singapore-New York, sure with OW they have to make connections for this to work but 18% is 18% and right now OW is 18% less for the same basic trip but perhaps with an added connection. If you add Australia into the equation, then it should be a no brainer to use QF equipment (and perhaps with the A380) vs the UAL nonstops

There is a shortage of full fare paying passengers these days, and any move on price that could make a loyal customer look at alternatives is a very dicey move. Most carrier prices themselves on similar routes at the same fare level, but no longer with the RTW's. Only time will tell who benefited more: *A with added revenue through a price hike or OW through more passengers filling empty seats with a price reduction and creating new customers