Does AA still have extra room in coach?
May 6th, 2007, 12:03 PM
#21
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 2,420
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
AA actually did try to "charge" more. Seats didn't sell so they met the competition and put in more seats. So in effect "we voted" If AA was 5% higher for "more room" folks saved the 5% for "cheap seats" LOL!
May 8th, 2007, 06:45 AM
#26
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 3,958
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
We recently flew JFK to Zurich on AA and whenI saw the seats we would have to be in for 8 hours I couldn't believe it. Teeny tiny space. I weight 110 lbs, so if it looked bad to me, I can't believe what it must be for heavier people.
Extra leg room has morphed into extra seats and money for AA, extra stress on flyers.
Extra leg room has morphed into extra seats and money for AA, extra stress on flyers.
May 8th, 2007, 10:56 AM
#27
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 2,420
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
"Have to respectfully disagree with you CarolA..."
Perhaps you would agree with AA management.
From
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/07/21/Bu...he_Chair.shtml
"American probably managed to make money at first by attracting more big-bucks business travelers in the place of bargain-hunters that airlines use to fill up the last seats, Pacelli said.
But the strategy backfired, he said, as the weak economy and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks drove down demand for tickets and drove down air fares.
By February, the airline will put 2,224 coach seats back into its A300s and 757s, returning seat pitch to the industry standard. The planes getting more seats typically fly to leisure markets including Orlando, the Caribbean and ski reports. The airline hasn't said how much more revenue it hopes to collect.
"We're giving customers the opportunity to fly more low fares on more seats," spokesman Tim Wagner said. "Customers in these markets are completely focused on price, and we didn't want to create an "airline within an airline.' "
Perhaps you would agree with AA management.
From
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/07/21/Bu...he_Chair.shtml
"American probably managed to make money at first by attracting more big-bucks business travelers in the place of bargain-hunters that airlines use to fill up the last seats, Pacelli said.
But the strategy backfired, he said, as the weak economy and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks drove down demand for tickets and drove down air fares.
By February, the airline will put 2,224 coach seats back into its A300s and 757s, returning seat pitch to the industry standard. The planes getting more seats typically fly to leisure markets including Orlando, the Caribbean and ski reports. The airline hasn't said how much more revenue it hopes to collect.
"We're giving customers the opportunity to fly more low fares on more seats," spokesman Tim Wagner said. "Customers in these markets are completely focused on price, and we didn't want to create an "airline within an airline.' "
May 8th, 2007, 12:08 PM
#30
It's pretty simple math. AA rolled out MRTC at a time when load factors were down and they could differentiate their product in the marketplace. When load factors started recovering and operating costs started spiking, AA saw that pax were more price-sensitive than comfort sensitive, the relative lack of revenue seats in MRTC aircraft meant that their RASM - revenue per available seat mile - the benchmark income measurement in the industry - had a cap on it compared to airlines with higher density seating. So away it went, and their load factors have continued to climb, evidencing that MRTC was not a market-making feature.
United has been very secretive about how its Economy Plus feature is doing on the revenue front. It was introduced when talk on the street was that UA was going belly up, and the hunching was that this was merely a measure to entice some AA pax to cross over. However that's now 2 or 3 years ago, and UA keeps marketing it so one can assume that there's some elasticity in that part of their biz.
BA markets its premium economy product (World Traveller Plus) so there's undoubtedly some upside in the longhaul economy-legroom segment too.
Whether AA will follow UA and re-introduce some MRTC seats, along with other "cafeteria" features - like "free" - i.e. prepaid - drinks or pay-for-an-aisle-seat like Northwest... - well, we'll have to wait and see. The test will be when the market goes soft the next time, not while things are as hot as they are now.
But rest assured that these issues are being examined down to the molecular level by the airlines. It's about as close to "perfect competition" in big business as one can get these days.
United has been very secretive about how its Economy Plus feature is doing on the revenue front. It was introduced when talk on the street was that UA was going belly up, and the hunching was that this was merely a measure to entice some AA pax to cross over. However that's now 2 or 3 years ago, and UA keeps marketing it so one can assume that there's some elasticity in that part of their biz.
BA markets its premium economy product (World Traveller Plus) so there's undoubtedly some upside in the longhaul economy-legroom segment too.
Whether AA will follow UA and re-introduce some MRTC seats, along with other "cafeteria" features - like "free" - i.e. prepaid - drinks or pay-for-an-aisle-seat like Northwest... - well, we'll have to wait and see. The test will be when the market goes soft the next time, not while things are as hot as they are now.
But rest assured that these issues are being examined down to the molecular level by the airlines. It's about as close to "perfect competition" in big business as one can get these days.
May 8th, 2007, 03:16 PM
#31
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 5,601
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Carol, still think you're confusing things. AA didn't raise prices when it introduced MRTC and then drop them again later. It just found that after 9/11 not enough people were flying to make up in volume of passenger-miles what they had sacrificed in number of revenue-producing seats per flight. They had to go back to the "old" number of seats per flight at the same revenue level to make their budget goals.
