Originally Posted by
FlightCheck
I in fact don't know a single person (read: consumer) who objects to the idea of paying $5-$10 more per ticket to insure their pilot is being compensated sufficiently to at least check in at a hotel for rest without having to sweat the financial consequences.
I beg to differ. If Priceline presented a consumer with two identical flights on airline A and B (who's safety track records are on par), where A's ticket costs $10 more than B's, but A's pilots are better paid and rested, I can almost guaruntee that most, if not all, would go with airline B. Heck, I had a pax once who lived in San Francisco, purchase a ticket to Boston via OAK-LAX-BOS, instead of SFO direct BOS. OAK flight went out late, misconnected, and then screamed bloody murder. I asked why they didn't buy the direct ticket, and the response was they saved 5 DOLLARS by connecting out of Oakland. They probably spent 10 dollars more on gas to save 5 on the airline ticket. And then much more than that on a hotel for the night because of the misconnect. Point being, I think people could give a rat's ass about anything else but the price of their airline ticket.