Why do you choose a certain airline?
 

Dear all,

I have a question for all of you out there, who book their flights for business trips:

- What are your most important reasons to book one airline instead of another?

- Are those reasons the same for short- and long-haul flights, or do they differ?

- Can things like on-board meals or other amenities make you choose one carrier ower the other?

- How important are airline loyalty programs for your decision progress?

The reason for asking you these question is, that my little sister will conduct her docterate on the topic why business travelers choose one particular airline. As a big fan of the airline industry, I want to help her a little to get started.

Many thanks to all of you who reply to this thread!

A loyalty programme that fits in with my pattern of travel is important.

Meals are important since the meal on the plane is often all I get. I like an early evening meal and don't like to sleep on a full stomach. I don't expect to pay anything more to eat or drink on the plane (LiarAir can do with that what they will).

The biggest thing for me is past experiences and the known conditions of an airline's fleet. If I've had to go through some strange and negative experience on an airline, I will never fly them again. Same goes for if they have a much older fleet (à la Delta). I just don't trust the older birds as much and they're not nearly as comfortable.

Meals are also very important. Considering the fact that nowadays they're really limiting what you can bring on planes, they better have a meal or two because being hungry on a flight for me is nigh to torture. I tend to choose BA whenever I go to the UK because I like their in-flight meals.

A loyalty program is just icing on the cake for me. ^

1) Flight leaves/arrives when I want.
2) Minimum number of connections, or no connections at all.

Then there are minor issues like FFPs, food, price, upgrade options, etc., but the most important thing is that it gets me there when I want to get there.

I can't believe someone is willing to hand out a doctorate for this topic.

I choose the airline I would fly over things like these:

1.) Aircraft
2.) Travel Time
3.) Connection Times
4.) In-flight Amenities
5.) Safety Record
6.) Ease Of Using Online Booking System
7.) Staff Kindness

Remember those american "universities" that cluttered your mailbox back in the days before the invention of the spam filter?

I often fo it for the air miles. Didn't use to be so picky until I got mixed up with FT. Now I'm hooked. Fly me via the moon, just make sure I get the miles.

For business travel, schedule convenience for the trip's purpose comes first (obviously), then price (by company policy).

Schedule convenience includes minimizing connections, since each connection adds significant amounts of travel time, and increases the chance of problem (like missed connection due to first segment arriving late). It also includes flying to/from airports most convenient to the origin and destination.

Minor factors will break ties when schedule convenience and price are reasonably close. These include frequent flyer programs, in-flight amenities like personal TVs, and seating choice (as a non-elite passenger, Southwest is better than most airlines, since the late booking business traveler on an assigned seat airline tends to get the worst seat -- elite frequent flyers will naturally prefer the airline that they are elite on, because they will get the best seats even if they book late).

@kate_canuck, @diabo

Ok, you have your point there, but let me get that right.

1.) The exact wording of the doctorate will not be "Why do business travellers choose a certain airline?". This has just been my simple summarisation. In the same way, the doctorate will of course not be the result of the posts in this forum. It is only at the very beginning and all I wanted was to give some starting points and opinions of frequent travellers on the way.

2.) For my work I travel around Europe quite a lot. I love flying and have of course been quite enthusiastic about that subject, which led me to ponder about what are the most important factors for me to choose a certain airline (I will post that later). So in the same way as I wanted to help a little, I have been quite interested myself in what others think and if they share my opinions.

So please excuse my non-academic approach to this topic. Maybe my sister will post her exact tasks and wording at a later point and then you can make up your mind if that topic is worth the doctorate or not. In the meantime, I would still be grateful for your posts and opinions.

It's a matrix of sorts for me and includes the following factors, most certainly not necessarily in order of importance:

1. frequent flyer program benefits and ease of use
2. schedule/schedule convenience/flight time
3. in-flight communication/work facilities
4. type of aircraft
5. in-flight product/amenities (seat, entertainment, etc.)
6. ground facilities (particularly shower suites and lounges)
7. in-flight service (food, cleaniless of bathroom and its supplies)
8. ground service
9. safety record
10. ease of booking tickets (i.e., etickets, close to departure ticketing possibilities)
11. cost of tickets
12. personal contacts with airline/airport employees available to facilitate special needs

Ok, then to my opinion.

I mostly fly within Europe. My main goal always is to reach my destination at the right time, as quickly as possible and with the least of effort. Therefore
I would list the factors for my decision as follows:
1) Time of flight
2) Number of stop-over
3) In case there has to be a stop-over, the airport of the stop-over
4) Efficiency and at check-in, boarding, etc. (basically just has to be quick and at least a little bit friendly)
5) Aircraft (don't really care about the age of the plane or the neatness of the interior, but about legroom)
6) Loyalty program

I would never choose an European flight because they serve a meal on-board. However when I am on the flight it still upsets me if you don’t get anything, but it makes me mad when they give you one of this tiny sweets just before landing. When I am staying in a hotel that does not serve breakfast, lunch or dinner I don't need the chocolate on the pillow either.

The price of the flight is not a factor on a business trip for me, as I don't have to pay for it. That said however, the decision which flight to take is not always solely mine. In that case the factor of the price would propably rank as number two.

Well, concerning my business flights (mostly within europe) in most cases I am not really able to choose myself, but if I could, the following factors would be important:

1.) Simply the costs (if I had to pay myself ;-))
2.) Best connection, direct flights, or just a short stopover (but not too short, I hate hurrying from gate to gate)
3.) Loyalty program

Everything else - like service, meals on board, aircraft - is just a nice "extra" for me, but it would not really have influence on my decision.

I have a "primary" airline, which is the one where I'm trying to keep or get Elite status. That airline gets first priority but I can use others if:

1. Schedule is more convenient.
2. Price is substantially better (not a difference of $50 but of $200+)
3. I can avoid connections at an airport I hate (LHR comes to mind)

Aircraft isn't a big consideration for me.
I'm a little wary of airlines in shaky financial condition- mostly because I don't want them pulling the plug on their flights unexpectedly. I feel the same about those with possible labor problems.

In considering which airline I want to get or keep Elite status, I consider their availability on routes I'm likely to fly, how well they treat low-tier Elites (I'm never going to be a 100,000+ mile flier) and the quality of their Coach product, which is where I spend most of my time and all of my personal travel. This, for example, currently knocks out one airline where if my very tall husband gets an aisle seat on transatlantics, I'm stuck with a middle seat because their aircraft don't have a side with only a on one side of the plane.

1. The airline must be safe (in Europe/US almost all are but that is not necessarily the case elsewhere)
2. The schedule must be right with regard to my timetable
3. The price must be right (it does not have to be cheap, but it must fit within certain limits)
4. On long flights there must be enough legroom
Then we come to secondary things:
5. Enough free catering with regard to the flight time
6. FF points, please
7. Free drinks
8. Lounge access
9. Better meals, amenities
10. Convenient airport

IFE plays no, absolutely no role as a selection criteria for me. None whatsoever!