A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
basic economy
Search Results for "basic economy".
American Admits Basic Economy ‘Underperforms’: Making Your Product Worse Doesn’t Make More Money
American Airlines used to believe that ‘basic economy’ would be worth a billion dollars to the airline.
We keep hearing that basic economy is a success. American now concedes that despite those proclamations that it has ‘underperformed’.
Basic Economy: 73.6% of Statistics are Made Up
Everyone believes basic economy works because airline executives keep repeating that it’s true. It was supposed to be a billion dollar idea and yet once implemented the revenue benefits don’t clearly materialize in the financials.
We keep hearing things like 50% of customers buy up to a higher fare, which strikes me as like “73.6% of all statistics are made up.”
Basic Economy is the New “Saturday Night Stay” – a Tool to Stick it to Business Travelers
Airlines have taken that knowledge, that business travel booking engines will filter out basic economy options, and used it as ‘the new Saturday night stay’ — the means to differentiate pricing for leisure travelers and business travelers.
American Relaxes Basic Economy Restrictions Today, Admits It Was All About Making You Pay More
American Airlines Basic Economy fares are highly restrictive. The purpose of these fares is to make the travel experience worse, in hopes that you will spend more money to avoid them. However they need to balance that with the risk that you will just give up on them and choose to fly someone else instead.
American Airlines President Robert Isom, speaking at the Cowen and Company Global Transportation Conference, admits that “the premise of basic economy, it wasn’t a price cut…[but] an upsell.”
Why United Will Be Forced to Give Up Punitive Basic Economy Restrictions
It’s difficult to see how United can stand alone, though, with the most draconian restrictions among the largest US airlines. With Delta’s claim that American and United basic economy were driving revenue to them, and with American abandoning their own carry on restriction, it’s just a matter of time before United must react.
CONFIRMED: American Bringing Back Carry On Bags to Basic Economy, Punishing Customers is Bad Business
On July 3rd I shared that American was poised to relax the most draconian restriction on their lowest-price Basic Economy fares, once again allowing customers on these lowest fares to bring both a personal item and a full sized carry on bag onto the plane. American refused to comment.
However this change has now been announced in this morning’s earnings release, and points to the failure of the business strategy of making your product worse in hopes of generating more revenue.
Delta President: United and American are Losing Business Because of Harsh Basic Economy
During yesterday’s second quarter earnings call, Duane Pfennigwerth of Evercore ISI asked whether the way “the rest of the industry has implemented basic economy so far… the more punitive implementations of it, no carry-on” has led to “positive share gain” (people choosing to fly Delta instead of United and American).
Report: American Bringing Back Carry On Bags to Basic Economy, Underscores Failure of Basic Economy
American is expected to relax the most draconian restriction on their lowest-price Basic Economy fares, and that points to the failure of the overall basic economy strategy. Perhaps as early as next month they will once again allow customers on these lowest fares to bring both a personal item and a full sized carry on bag onto the plane.
How Not to Be a Jerk at 30,000 Feet and American Wants More Basic Economy
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.