I read yesterday that American is planning to lower fares but that they are also planning on adding seats in economy. Anybody else hear anything about this?

From a press release on the AA site, dated yesterday:

"American will also be reintroducing standard seating to 23 percent of its fleet so that it can offer competitive fares across more seats in leisure and vacation markets. The new pitch will ultimately be found on all of the carrier?s 140 Boeing 757 and 34 Airbus A300 aircraft.

<snip>

The fleet reconfiguration will begin this fall, with A300s to be finished in time for winter holiday travel to the Caribbean in December. The Boeing 757s, which fly a variety of markets in the U.S., will be finished in mid-February 2004."

Damn shame.

Keith

To comment on this to American Airlines go to http://aa.com/ and click on "contact"

The part that gets me is, what does AA expect us to do? I will have to watch what plane I get on my next flight, what if there is equipment change, the paxs go from MRTC to LRTC? I'm not sure about this concept, but as they say, the BIG boys know what they are doing, ..... maybe NOT......

While I am no fan of AA, when I read this my first thought was "market forces." As an AA exec noted, people have shown that price is more important to them than a little extra room in coach. The business traveler market (read as "willing to pay higher fares&quotthat AA hoped to attract with this promotion is less active in these days of a sputtering economy. People do vote with their feet, and evidently they have been walking to airlines with lower fares. Consider this - of all the posts on this board regarding air travel, what proportion is about lowest fare vs.that about roominess? Cycical as it sounds, the bottom line is the bottom line.

My guess is these flights will be the routes that are flown to the carribean by passengers that have cruise packages,etc., and the seat is sold at a lower price. They will need to lower prices to compete with the new Delta Song fares that are flown on the east coast. Like Seamus wrote,it is all about the bottom line.

Interesting comments!

TWA tried this "more room in coach" thing 10 - 15 years ago, and it didn't last. I knew from the moment that AA announced this, that it wouldn't be forever, as well.

I must agree with Seamus and Doc -- this IS driven in large part by market conditions. But, it is also a sad result of gross mismanagement by the big carriers, who seem more interested in CEO salaries and perks than whether their airline actually prospers or not.

Let's face it, we're really starting to see Americans' grossly unrealistic desire to receive Neiman-Marcus quality and service at Wal-Mart prices come to its inevitable breakdown point. What I'm afraid is that we'll end up seeing Wal-Mart quality and (non-existant) service at Neiman-Marcus prices across ALL sectors of our economy . . .

I have to admit I am one of those who looks primarily at cost. So I'm not upset about having to pay for meals on some airlines, or about the amount of room. All things being equal, of course I'd like more room. But all things are rarely equal. So, for me, I look at cost first and whatever the airlines need to do to keep fares down is fine with me (to an extent of course because I wouldn't want to compromise safety, for example).

Anne

I do agree, it's all about the bottom line. After all it is a business, and it is trying to live, but that was not what I questioned. How are they going to market MRTC from this point on?

You will get MRTC(well, at least most of the time)?

You will get the same price as the lower priced airlines(but don't expect MRTC)?

I'm just confused. Maybe they should go back to the old days, and compete with the budget airlines, but if you are going to have different set-ups, how is that concept going to work?

" Consider this - of all the posts on this board regarding air travel, what proportion is about lowest fare vs.that about roominess?"

I posted about the leg room on 05/12, I searched back my last 100 posts and couldn't find anytime I had posted about lowest fares.

I have been making an effort to use AA because of the extra room. Flew with them on the last 4 trips.

I guess not enough people were concerned about that...or AA was benefiting from offering the extra room, but there is no way to know how much less business they would have had without it.

Keith

Lets face it,an extra 6-10 seats on a plane,or whatever it is,is most likely going to make the company post a profit at the year end. AMR doesnt really care what WE think,just what wall st. and the investment bankers think. If they dont meet wall St. estimates,thats not good. Extra seats help them meet those estimates.

On the leg room versus price issue, something I've found surprising is how under-used the "premium economy" type cabins are (eg BA, Virgin Atlantic). After safety, the most important thing to me is comfort (eg leg room, bigger seat). I'm usually willing to pay a premium for World Traveller Plus/Premium Economy on trans-oceanic flights (but I'd never pay for business class). But few other people seem to agree with me, which, for now, is great because it means that the Premium Economy/World Traveller Plus cabins are either empty (in which case I got lots of space) or, if Economy is full, I get bumped to Business Class. But I hope that there is enough continued demand for the "intermediate" premium cabins, so that the airlines continue to offer them.

I would be more than willing to give up some leg room (although the extra has been nice) for lower fares. But, unfortunately, these lower fares never apply to my market (Caribbean to the US) since AA has a monopoly on my hub.

So, I'm out of luck either way, and therefore would prefer to keep my leg room.

Let's bear in mind that the reduction of More Room in Coach is only on two types of planes. The routes on which I fly regularly do not use 757s or Airbus 300's. They are nearly always MD-80s.

I will continue to select American precisely because of the guarantee of More Room in Coach.

>>> The business traveler market AA hoped to attract...

It doesn't exist. Businesses these days won't fly their business travelers in business class, insisting on economy instead.

Travel tips:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/travel.htm

It's only a matter of time when American will institue LRTC on their entire fleet. LRTC on 757's and A300's is only the beginning I'm afraid.

I have to say that I just did a round trip to NYC/LHR on AA and if that is more leg room in coach I hate to think of what the other airlines are like. The trip over was horrible. Thankfully they gave me an aisle bulkhead for the return. Never again!!! I'm going back to Virgin's Premium Economy--more comfort; better service; much better food (eventhough it is the same as the meals being served in Economy).

FLYER,
I do believe you that Virgin Premium Economy is better. It better be for about $1200 more per seat.
I have priced VA Economy and AA Economy, departing Aug20, returning Aug27. Both priced almost identical at $595 per seat. When I priced VA EconPlus it came back at $1800 per seat. So if you want to compare, try VA economy seats and let us know how wonderful they are.
Please don't compare apples and oranges.

I'm glad to hear Virgin PE is much better than AA coach as that's what I'll be flying, but I agree it's not a valid comparison. You're paying for the difference (or in my case using more miles). BTW it's VS.

I agree with both of you that it isn't a valid comparison. It wasn't meant to be. It was meant to be a preference. I tend to feel very uncomfortable in "tight quarters" and was hoping AA would work out for me so I wouldn't have to pay for more costly preium tickets. Unfortunately, it didn't. The only valid comparison would be the food. Virgin serves the same meals in Premium and the Main Cabin. Sorry for the misunderstanding.