That is all wrong, airline tickets are not bought that way. Maybe 5% or less care about anything other than schedule and price. No one sits and adds up fees, they or their TA book on base ticket price, if your ticket is more they don't even see it as an option in many cases.
I dunno
Up....I think, I thknk
Sharktooth has a point...and I don't think you are "wrong" either. (Long winded way of saying you both have a point.)
All things being equal, I'd probably book another carrier for the reasons
Sharktooth said. But make no mistake about it, you are correct in that I will book, almost ahead of anything, "time." Money plays into it as well, but "time" is the first, most important issue for me. Believe it or not, being able to book in F is also critical because I do lots of long haul flying. And this is where US rarely gets my hard earned $$$, because the product truly is not on par with the others.
I just bought all my travel for what remains in August and all of September. I probably spent, all told, around $7,500 for those two months...I did actually book some trips on US, one of which is top dollar...$981 for an F trip, SFO-PVD in August. I bought this with US in mind LAST...I bought it because a client was on it..and I waned to be on that flight.
The other tickets were purely scheduling and then because the price was so insanely low, I'd need my head examined.
For example, EVERYONE in the DFW-PVD market was $450 and up...US was $188. Now, I don't care if I have to pay $2.00 for a coke...I can't drink $267 worth of cokes...and for miles...same thing...on this route, the time was right, leaving DFW at 10 am and then the price was right...in all candor, if CO had the right time, I would have booked them in a Y-Up....but for some reason, they weren't available.
But I honestly don't "chose" US Airways any more...bonus miles, gone, service in the back of the plane, gone, etc., etc. I "chose" US Airways when there is no other way or the price is just silly low.
Having been a business owner for a while now...I just don't believe "price" is a good way to wage battle...and a company playing into that "price" thing seems dangerous.