Saving seats is becoming an epidemic! EarlyBird check in. - Page 11

Nov 11, 2011, 1:09 pm

#151

pinniped

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Quote:

Originally Posted by jamesteroh

Usually on Delta if it's a full flight that is elite heavy, they will offer to gate check bags for free in the waiting area before and if they don't have enough (or any) volunteers they will tell people that if they have a zone 4 BP to come up front and have their bag checked to save time because they will only be able to accomodate up to zone 3's bags.

I've seen them do that: Zone 4 on Delta sucks. In fact, every DL mainline flight I'm on seems to have some degree of involuntary gate-checking. Another reason I like RJ's...worst case, I'll get the bag back in the jetway, not on the baggage carousel.

Quote:

Silvers are impacted in a couple areas. One is the gate lice and also not finding space above their seat. I was on a flight recently, MDW/DTW last month and it was a one class plane (I think an e-170, it wasn't an RJ and they didn't planeside check bags since the bins were larger on the one side) and I was only in Row 4 and had to put my bags over Row 6 since that was the closest bin space that wasn't taken. By offering that benefit it makes people less motivated to go for silver. About the only benefit FO has over an am ex cardholder right now is the occassional upgrade or the ability to select an exit row.

OK, I've been two rows away from my bag before as well...of all the horrors of flying DL coach, that one hardly registers in my mind as significant. And besides, we have no way of knowing whether a gaggle of non-elite Amex holders near you caused that or not. (Statistically-speaking, odds are it was a bunch of elites. The non-elite Amex holder is, by his very definition, not taking many actual airplane flights.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by nsx

The unseen side of this is how much the existence of EBCI reduces the value of the product others purchased. If the value of the core product, measured by how much customers are willing to pay for it, dropped by more than $30M, then EBCI was a loser. This is the same calculation that applies to baggage fees on other airlines.

The main reason that I don't think EBCI is driving away passengers, or causing passengers to yield less than they otherwise would, is that the experience for any would-be EBCI buyer is so much worse on the legacies.

Since EBCI buyers are not A-List, I think it's safe to assume that they are statistically unlikely to be elites on a legacy. Therefore, Southwest's basic boarding process is superior for these passengers than the legacies, so I don't see EBCI being a driver of people from WN to a legacy.

The baggage fees, which impact the same subset of travelers, are a bit different in that some people might see a truly head-to-head option, WN vs. a legacy, flying an identical nonstop route and an identical price. (In fact, it's semi-common in the U.S.) Therefore, the baggage fees no doubt can be a driver of people from a legacy to WN.

Prime example: I used to participate in (and sort of organize) an annual trip of a bunch of guys to go play golf and hit baseball games in a different city every year. I used to book it on UA whenever I could...I'd use some CR-1's for friends if possible, pass around some of the 1K drink chits...even passed out some RCC passes one year when I had built up a bit of a stash. But the bag fees killed that because I was the only *A elite in the group. I could check three sets of golf clubs myself, but I wasn't going to coordinate/organize putting a bunch of other people on my itin just for the elite perks. So the trips all had to go to WN from that point onward. Everybody buys their own ticket, everybody can bring their own golf clubs. I can even still pass out drinks...

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