"Why Airlines Make You Suffer" - The New Yorker
Dec 26, 2014, 8:32 pm
#1
Original Poster
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"Why Airlines Make You Suffer" - The New Yorker
Dec 26, 2014, 10:12 pm
#2
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Economy minus? Who in the name of God would buy a ticket in something called Economy MINUS??
Where's the tipping point/critical mass/end of the road/whatever you want to call it - where the greedy quest for fares and fees becomes the airlines shooting themselves in the foot (or wing, as it were)?
Where's the tipping point/critical mass/end of the road/whatever you want to call it - where the greedy quest for fares and fees becomes the airlines shooting themselves in the foot (or wing, as it were)?
Dec 27, 2014, 12:18 pm
#3
Join Date: Nov 2011
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New Yorker Magazine - Why Airlines Want to Make You Suffer
http://www.newyorker.com/business/cu...d-most-popular
..... Here’s the thing: in order for fees to work, there needs be something worth paying to avoid. That necessitates, at some level, a strategy that can be described as “calculated misery.” Basic service, without fees, must be sufficiently degraded in order to make people want to pay to escape it. And that’s where the suffering begins. .....
..... Here’s the thing: in order for fees to work, there needs be something worth paying to avoid. That necessitates, at some level, a strategy that can be described as “calculated misery.” Basic service, without fees, must be sufficiently degraded in order to make people want to pay to escape it. And that’s where the suffering begins. .....
Dec 27, 2014, 3:19 pm
#4
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The whole logic of the article fails. Let's say I charge $100 for something then I change based on competition pressure to charge only $80 but have a special fee for $20. Comes back to $100. The pressure to pay the $20 comes from the fact that I'm not providing that service as part of the $80. Well, yeah. That doesn't mean I'm deliberately making the service bad so that you will pay the extra $20. That means the public was stupid for demanding I remove that service to get the fare to $80.
Last edited by cblaisd; Dec 27, 2014 at 9:49 pm Reason: Removed no longer needed link after thread mergers
Dec 27, 2014, 4:18 pm
#5
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Well, realistically speaking it won't be called "Economy Minus" once the advertising folks get hold of it. I'd expect something more tactful like "Economy Basic" or "Economy Saver".
Dec 27, 2014, 6:08 pm
#6
Join Date: Mar 2007
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I don't like reading articles from someone who doesn't fly often about how flying sucks because they are do not have status. The author mentions status in a negative connotation twice. I have status and I know how to board a plane much faster than someone who flies to FL once a year. Y seats don't really bug me.. that much.. sure my shoulders are much wider than the seats and I don't know how airlines account for that but that is besides the point. It is just transportation, don't like it, find an alternative.
Dec 27, 2014, 9:19 pm
#7
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I'm hoping that with gas prices lower people will stop flying so much and start driving, especially families. Until passengers start revolting, airlines will continue to treat passengers like crap.
Dec 27, 2014, 9:21 pm
#8
Senior Moderator and Moderator: American AAdvantage & TravelBuzz
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Moving this over to the Travel News forum, where it will likely join the existing thread discussing this article. /JY1024, TravelBuzz co-moderator