gdeluca

Our Association is a small, non-profit so I have to cut corners wherever I can with travel. I always look for the lowest fares, but will pay more if the lowest is on United...like that ever happens! I try to keep the CEO on AA to build miles, but we use them when we get enough. Since he recently moved from West to the East coast he is doing more traveling to the West. I hope to build miles to achieve higher level on AA to get some benefits. I hate that my CEO cannot travel in comfort on the transcon

pjpoker

I don't fly as often as I would like, but I'm all about the cheap fares.
I've chosen somewhere to fly to before based on price alone.
For a 19 year old, price means alot.

Plus, I've never felt that the service was bad, whether it be Airtran or AA, I'm always happy with it. What can I say, I'm easy to please.

lewisc

AA promoted MRTC. Advertised it. I think they gave it a chance but found the majority of customers, business and leisure, weren't willing to pay extra (even a modest surcharge) for more leg room.

People may pay extra for better flight times and even for N/S service. Airlines have found passengers won't pay extra for amenities like meals and extra leg room.

gglave

I'm not sure your average FTer represents a good poll cross-section of the flying public.

I think a lot of the people you see at the airport travel a two or three times a year, and many of the business travellers you see might fly on business once or twice a year to a conference or a customer. This describes virtually all of my family, friends and associates.

Those people shop fare first - Especially if a it's a family travelling on holiday. If a transcon fare is $125 cheaper on Carrier Y, then for a family of four that's a $500 savings.

PTravel

I agree that it doesn't. That's why I'm asking. Casual fliers don't read FT, but my theory is that they are the ones driving low fares. I've heard of people spending hours on internet searches to find a fare that's, literally, a few dollars less than another carrier. Airlines continue to chase the low-fare, casual flier market (IMHO, TSA exists solely to reassure this market that it's safe to fly, but that's another thread), whereas more frequent fliers are concerned about other things besides getting the rock-bottom fare.

I'm surprised, though, by the number of posters here who have indicated that their choice of carrier is fare-driven.

tjl

Most people (or their employers with respect to business travel) are not able or willing to totally disregard the price of the flight when choosing flights. Some here may be willing to pay somewhat more than the lowest fare to get on what they see as a better airline (or more favorable schedule, etc.), but there are probably very few who totally disregard the price of the ticket. If there were more passengers who totally disregarded the price of the ticket, the first class cabins would be more full of paid (as opposed to upgraded or award) passengers.

PTravel

I'm not suggesting that business travelers totally disregard fare cost. I am suggesting that other factors contribute to carrier selection, and that carrier choices are not purely fare-driven.

UA tends to cost more on the routes that I fly, but E+ is more comfortable than any other legacy, so I fly UA. I wouldn't fly UA if they charged 10 times more than anyone else. However, I also wouldn't fly an LCC with 30" seat pitch, even if it charged half of UA's fare.

ttjoseph

As a passenger, I don't know how to assess the safety of an airline because crashes are so rare. Haven't flown in Indonesia but I have flown Air Asia in Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia, and Air Deccan in India. I didn't feel unsafe on either carrier.

I agree with you on the miles earning. Since I started caring about frequent flyer miles, I haven't purchased a fare on a non-SkyTeam carrier, because any premium involved would have been less than the expected redemption value of the miles.

tjl

I find UA to be the cheapest in many cases. But (as a non-elite) I find the general comfort and service level on UA to be inferior to that of AC, AS, WN, and B6, so I am willing to pay somewhat more on those other airlines (particularly because UA has a high risk of a 2+ hour delay). I am not that tall, so E+ is not a big deal for me.

As far as 30" seat pitch on LCCs, that would be Air Tran and Skybus. WN has 32-33" and B6 has 34-36" (compared to the usual 31" on the legacies and 35" on UA's E+).

tonei

I look for good fares, but I usually do that through routings rather than carriers - unless it's a drastic price difference (I'd imagine $40-$50), I'll fly AS or a partner (AA/DL/NW/even CO) before I'll fly on someone else. With the wide selection, I haven't had any problems yet.

zac

I try to stay on UA for E+ as well, but 50% off would be pretty tough to swallow. I think I may be LCCing it. I can suffer quite a bit to save $, especially on shorter (under 3 hrs) flights.

ACB

My answer is "it depends." For business travel (I do a lot less than I used to), I actually am supposed to fly certain airlines, regardless of price. American, one of our preferred carriers, could be $200 more than JetBlue, and if I pick the JetBlue flight, I'm required to explain why. But mostly for business it comes down to flight schedules as long as the price looks reasonable.

Since I don't travel as much as I used to and have no status on any airline, I tend to book on price for personal trips. I find the service better on JetBlue and Southwest than any of the legacies, but Southwest is out because they don't fly out of LGA or JFK. So, if I can get JetBlue, I'll usually take it because i prefer it and it tends to be the lowest cost. My next preference is American, simply because I am an AAdvantage member, albeit without status, and I do try to rack up miles when possible. But if there's a huge price difference and AirTran comes in super cheap, I'm sitting my butt on AirTran.

Athena53

Price is important to a point, on both business and personal travel. I'll spend more to get a nonstop and, now that I have enough miles flown + booked to keep Platinum status on AA this year, I'll be looking at other carriers that offer food in Domestic Coach and not worrying about a few extra bucks. Yesterday I stood in line at MCO for half an hour at Au Bon Pain because my noon flight didn't have food service and I wanted lunch. Ridiculous. I'd also avoid RyanAir-type seat pitch on just about any flight. In general, I'm willing to pay more for:

1. Nonstops
2. A flight on an airline where I have Elite status and thus a chance at an upgrade and/or Elite check-in lines when I fly international
3. Reasonable seat pitch
4. Anything that does NOT connect through LHR.

magiciansampras

The responses in this thread are what you would call a convenient sample. We're folks that are into frequent flyer programs; that is why we're here. As such fare is less important than getting the most out of whatever FFPs we're in.

The economics of the industry would suggest that lots are flying on price alone. I think a lot of it has to do with the overall experience. People know that flying is a big hassle, starting with the airport. It's now just used to get you from point A to point B. I truly believe a lot of this started post-9/11; the degradation of the flying experience.

aktchi

When I started flying and for many years later, it was common to see people "dress well" before they went on a flight. The cabin used to spontaneously applaud a smooth landing. And we were served food. Those were softer times.