jetguy_50 said:
Art, I guess that means as a Biz traveler you are willing to pay 30 to 40 percent more? Correct?
If Jet Blue offered that same fare from LGA would you still be willing to pay 30 or 40 percent more?
How much more do you think US Airways can get out of vacation people going to Florida or any where else than Jet Blue? The Same 30 percent?
I think there needs to be a distinction when talking about different fares.
You have 1) The business guy who has to travel no matter what (Full Y)
2) The business guy who is flexible (maybe Y, maybe a rt, maybe ?)
3) The leisure traveler who knows when they are going and are willing
pay a little more for the flights they want
4) The leisure traveler who doesnt care exactly when they go and can
shop around for the best deal
5) Priceline, Hotwire, Esavers - people who will only go if they get the
rock bottom price they want and can afford, otherwise they dont go,
take the bus or suck it up and drive
I dont think anyone is saying that the 3,4,5 fares need to drop any. They are already for the most part rock bottom (thats part of the problem).
Its the 1 and 2 that need to be tweaked. You will always have the 1's, but CCY says they arent out there as much as they were before so how much would you actually lose if 1 came down in price (but maybe got a couple more willing to pay for the flights they want). 2 is the one thats the most critical. These are the ones that will shop around for a good fare, buy the excursion and then pay the $100 to change if needed, when for a little bit more lowering on the highest fare, they might be willing to spend that up front to be able to change the ticket whenever they needed. These are also the last minute people we are losing to the LCCs since their walkup fares are so much cheaper than US. If we have seats (20-30% are open according to load factor numbers), then how many MORE would we get instead of them heading to Airtran or Jetblue if the price were more reasonable vs how much would we lose from the 1 or ? (however many people who buy the full fare that the company says isnt happening that much) people that would have to fly us anyway and begrudgingly pay the outrageous fare. That is what ART is addressing I believe. This is where the number cruchers should be working on figuring out what tweaking could happen to make everyone happy.