American puts Samsung tablets on planes

[eolesen]

Does Southwest pass out tablets for their passengers to play with?

No, they don't. Nor should they for what WN charges for a connecting flight.

We're also not talking about coach. This is for business & first, and WN is not the primary competition in those markets. Virgin, Delta, and United are. All three have better seats and service. Virgin has wifi and TV. DL has wifi and good IFE. I haven't kept up with UA is, but they've got good IFE from what I recall. AA's portable IFE is only slightly better than my son's outdated Nintendo 64 that we sold at a garage sale last year for $15.

I know. The mechanics don't make the decision for AA to offer two or three classes of service. Here's the math for you, which I know you'll understand.

JFK-SFO  23JUN

Cabin      Lowest    Highest
WN Coach:  $300      $520

VX Coach   $486      $854
VX PremY   $526      $969   
VX First   $1689     $2189

DL Coach   $370      $1566
DL Biz     $1680     $2535

AA Coach:  $370      $960
AA Biz  :  $1680     $2700
AA First:            $3145

I believe you've said (repeatedly) that AA doesn't have a cost problem -- it has a revenue problem. I'd agree. WN and VX definitely hold pricing power on the low end, but apparently AA is still able to extract a bit of a premium over the nonstops, even over DL.

Perhaps you might want to explain what AA does which justifies paying $1100 more than they would for the most expensive seat on Southwest, or approximately the same they would on DL or Virgin?

Flying on an aircraft that you've blessed as airworthy is likely worth something, but not that much, especially on a per seat basis. Mileage is probably worth something, too. But I doubt it's enough.

AA's in for a very rude awakening soon. For years, they've relied on the entertainment industry flying in F, and part of that believe it or not was due to union contracts -- in this case, the SAG.

Guess what? The SAG and AFTRA sold you out. In order to get better pensions and healthcare, they agreed to modify the long standing travel policy which required F travel, and one of the main reasons that it remained on the transcons...

Specifically:

Additionally, the unions agreed to modifications to the travel provision that allow for business class (or first class when business class is unavailable) on all domestic flights of 1,000 miles or more and on all international flights, except for Vancouver and Toronto, Canada. Coach class travel is permitted on flights of less than 1,000 miles between a U.S. city and Vancouver, Canada or Toronto, Canada and flights between Los Angeles and Vancouver, Canada. First class travel shall continue to be required if business class is not available and coach is not permissible.

Their contract changes are effective on July 1. That's just over two weeks away for those of you playing the home edition.

I haven't seen anything public from UA regarding their PS product, but I know that DL has been going hard & heavy after the studios to try and steal business that they haven't been able to carry because of the AFTRA & SAG contracts. So has Virgin. And both carriers will no doubt gain at AA and UA's expense.

So, back on the topic... AA needs something to keep people interested in flying them. This is a good start. If it works.