You're a character, that's for damn sure.
Nevertheless, I think that yes the airline pricers, and everyone with a PhD in finance or economics that works in the airline industry is failing at their jobs. These companies are businesses, and every business I know is not a net neutral business. They don't work to break just RIGHT at even every quarter or year.
I'll let my friends in the pricing biz know
Nobody in the entire pricing game is smart enough to figure out how to just raise their prices. Come on, you know that's foolish. There are a lot of smarter people out there, and I'm sure it's been tried. The only way to make profit is to cut cost (ala SWA) not to increase revenue.
If you're going to make a profit you MUST charge an appropriate fare for your services. Skywest Inc (as much as I hate to reference the company) has shown that if you charge a cost appropriate for what you're going to provide, and some (them selling their services contractually to the heavy lift providers) you might actually turn a damn profit.
Apples to oranges. Fee for departure is a lot different ballgame than having to do everything "at-risk"
Now, all the legacies (screw the LLCs. . .they can continue, and you can not compete with them if you are a legacy) need to do is just do the same to their customers. Charge them an appropriate fare, all the time, and turn a profit.
That's the whole point, you cannot compete with the LLCs, so legacies can't just up the price, because nobody will fly on them domestically.
I know you economics and finance gurus want to make this more complicated, and I'm sure it's not just THAT simple. . .but it really is that simple.
No, it's not. You even shot a hole through your own argument in the previous sentence.
So what if the customer gets pissed. They're still going buy a ticket that takes them from NYC-LAX, ATL-SEA, or the like. They have no other choice. Greyhound? Amtrak? Yeah, that'd be fun.
They do have a choice. NYC-LAX, I'll take Southwest out of Islip, or Jet Blue out of Kennedy. ATL-SEA? I'll take AirTran, Frontier, or SWA out of BHM. Why should I, the consumer, pay $50 more for a ticket on United when I get the same benefits as riding on Southwest? At least the folks on Southwest are in a cheery mood.
Hell, maybe if after these companies start turning a good profit they can then develop and upgrade the services they provide - so as to emphasis the fact that their service is worth the additional price to the consumer.
The whole point of this is that nobody cares. Nobody wants extras, unless the price is the same as the competitors. Even then, there are a ton of other things that determine booking. For example, when I book airline tickets, I book as follows:
1) Price [the cheaper the ticket, the more I can spend on my vacation]
2) Number of stops
3) Time of departure
I don't really care if I get fed. That's not their responsibility.
Besides, there's already an "upper class" alternative, NetJets. Airlines can't offer that sort of service. They're stuck in obsolescence between the new guys, LCCs and NetJets. You're asking them to pick a very thin demographic.
But hey C_F, I know you love the all mighty consumer, so great for you.
That's because I am a consumer, and so are you.
I on the other hand, I could care less about how they feel. If they end up getting pissed off cause they can not get $99 round trip across the country on Delta, United, American, US Airways, or Continental they can go and seek the mode of transportation that can provide them that cost.
They tried that in 2000, it worked out miserably. I know people who work and have worked as pricers. It's just not that simple. If anything, you need to cut your costs.
May not be that simple, but it's certainly not that complicated. Raising prices, fares, to a certain level to offset the increased cost of the service provided will certainly help things move towards developing a profit.
If you're company B and producing your widgets at Company A's price + 25, you cannot last. It's *that* simple. The only other way to do it is create some sort of faux idea of luxury, but again, that's NetJets (and that's real luxury).
If you'd like to discuss this, let's keep it professional.
As long as you respect the fact that the people who price are not simians. They are well educated and know a lot more about their job than you do. What you're doing is comparable to people saying "Well my uncle lives in Pittsburgh and it's not raining there!"
