Bob Owens said:If SWA adds capacity in a previously unserved or underserved market, as they often do it throws your whole theory out of whack.
I don't see the connection between WN expansion and my post. Please explain.
Bob Owens said:If people are flying they have money to spend. People dont hop on a plane to just go for a ride. If the difference between profit and loss is $6 then raise them $6.
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Mr Owens, US-based airlines will fly some 700 million pax this year. Do you really believe that all 700 million were "necessary"? If so, I gotta bridge to sell you.
This is one area where you are seriously out of touch with your customers. You have no idea why people fly. (Neither does your employer, but that's a different story.)
I take AA flights all the time for frivilous reasons. I know EXPs who fly 100k+ Butt-in-Seat miles each year for the hell of it. Why do they do it? Because for $3,000 or so, they can get 8 systemwide upgrade certs and a couple hundred thousand miles or more (which they use to get First Class International Award tix).
The current stupid ad campaign being run by AA shows a guy packing his wife's stuff for a surprise trip out of town for dinner. Another spot shows a computer geek consultant making himself "invaluable" by frivilously flying to his client's location at least once a week. Both spots are highlighting the extremely low fares available this year and encourage people to fill the planes despite a lack of "necessity."
This summer I flew the family to Aruba for a short getaway in Business from LAX via JFK and MIA for $1,000 each. Tremendous deal. We scored an upgrade to P on the transcons. Did we need to go? Hell, no. But it was a fun trip. We earned lots of miles, flew in relative comfort, and were treated like royalty. But we didn't have to go. It was a frivilous trip. Just like my two trips to each of BDA, LIM, EZE and GIG this year. At least half of my numerous LAX-MIA flights to see elderly parents were frivilous, but they gave my kids plenty of time to see their grandparents.
People don't hop on a plane to just go for a ride? You couldn't be more off base with that one. I do, my family does, and hundreds of other people do each and every day. They go because it's so incredibly cheap to do so.
Perhaps you should take a stroll through T8 and T9 every now and then to find out just what all those people are doing. They aren't all there because their boss made them go or because their aunt died. Plenty of them are simply going for the hell of it.