Originally Posted by
SPAWNmaster
It's not that going back to it is the right move so much as going away from it in the past was the wrong move and they seem to be correcting. The recent BB video reacting to negative PR and customer sentiment is an obvious response towards managing the product. The pendulum swung all the way towards fully unbundled, max profits above all else, pushing ancillaries and unit margins, etc. Now the pendulum is swinging back towards (hopefully a healthier/happier) medium with known costs. I think most of us see it as a good thing. It seems like they think high conversions of The Works/Perks products is worth the tradeoff of perhaps lower unit revenues. The limited timeframe shows they are dipping toes in the water...if it goes to full rollout at the same price point then that would indicate it works well for the long term. DS is extremely smart so I'll be interested to see how this pans out for 2H guidance at the next investor call. No question it'll drive down complaints related to the bag fees though.
There is definitely a line. (Record breaking ancillary profits are not good when your PR and CS are in the dumpster.) If you are making a bit less money, but filling planes even more than you already are with people who actually say to their friends "go take Frontier, its great!" creates more profits and growth over time.
Just look at southwest. They were raking in loyal customers and still do. But recently, they have had a hard shift with both customers and employees since Herb went away.