Twicebaked said:
ClueByFour said:
You might also assume that for every vocal US1 that gets irked, there are probably 5 that you don't ever hear from, except in the form of no revenue.
I actually got a real live phone call from US this year, after I faxed them a few receipts for paid full-Y and J transatlantic travel on somebody else, along with the Q (or whatever relatively cheap) fare that I used to get into Envoy with a SWU or two.
That apparently got someone's attention.
I know for a fact that there are at least 5 other guys like me, who are currently working on my project and AA EXP status. What does that tell you?
That tells me that the world really IS full of choices. It also tells me that you are smart and look for bargains as do I.
Unfortunately, you can't please everyone and you can't do it for free.
The problem, as most of the folks (particularly those on FT) see it is that US is trying to have it both ways.
You cannot drive up yield and drive out the cockroaches with substandard service and/or substandard pricing. You either have to offer a better product, better incentives, or better pricing. It's that simple.
BBB thinks he can offer a crappy product and that people will buy it with no incentives.
My reaction to that (as a sitting US1) is to fly US on my leisure trips and/or when the yield is laughable for the product I'm receiving. I define a $500 trip over the pond in Envoy as a loss for US. When I have a fare where I truly am paying thru the nose (think walkup Y from AMS-CLE, for instance), it goes to a competitor.
I prefer the frontline folks at US to any other airline, domestic or otherwise. I am continually reminded by upper management (particularly the folks from/under BBB) that loyalty is not important. So, the I take my truly profitable business elsewhere. Of 60k or so status miles this year, almost half of those are a result of UA travel. Yet, when I fly a cheapie fare on US, I sit upfront. Et tu, Ben?
Eventually, this will hurt me (like next year, when I won't make US1 again. Have to settle for US2). But not that much. I'll have midlevel status with US (and by extension, *A) and with AA (and by extension, Oneworld). US could have had every last cent, high yield and low yield of that traffic (except when I fly to places that US does not go). BBB does not consider that to be important.
There are many like me, and not just on FT. Longtime US1 and US2 folks who have chosen to "diversify" because they are either reciprocating BBB's attitude right back at him or have decided that the product (F/Biz/Coach) is no longer competitive. Eventually, this will kill off a great bit of revenue.
Chasing the full fare folks is stupid. There are so few of them around anymore that it's a zero sum game. Contrary to what Dave thinks, shrinking capacity won't solve the problem so long as the LCCs can get more capacity from business center to business center at the same cost as the "shrunk" US. That, and the full fare guy goes on vacation, and 9 times out of 10 is not going to pay full fare. Now you have an expectation problem.
Anyway, Bob and many of the more vocal US VFFs get this, and don't want to see it happen, because, like me, they really prefer dealing with the frontline folks at US. At some point, you cut your losses. Losing that midmarket FF will kill US. Trust me.