Consumer Survey Give Airlines Poor Marks But Finds Improvements At Hotels - Business Travel - Portfolio.com

 

The traveling public is getting EXACTLY what they want and deserve.

GOOD FAST CHEAP

PICK ONE.

The picked CHEAP, hence it ain't fast and it ain't good. When I see people carping in the airport about the service and reliability, I just want to laugh in their face. They're as big of morons as the airline managers are. They deserve each other.

 

It is not the baggage fees that annoy business travelers so much, as it is the nickel and dime antics that make an expense report time consuming and cumbersome to complete.

 

From an Atlanta Journal Constitution article:


In surveys, passengers may say they can't stand bag fees, but they seem willing to pay them. As an employee of a company who made almost $1 Billion in revenue from them, I don't plan to argue against them (especially since that Billion funded my profit sharing check this year). In fact, the industry pulled in $5.7 Billion in fee revenue last year and while Southwest's 'no fee' marketing campaign may be noble, that's a huge pot of money to lose out on....Airtran pulled in more than $150 Million in bag fees and it would be interesting to be a fly on the wall of the meeting when SWA execs decide to end bag fees at Airtran to bring them in line and give up that cash.

 

Delta American Express Skymiles Credit Card, sign up and:

So Delta ff aren't paying for these bags. Infrequent travelers are. But if you want, sign up for the credit card and... see how this works?

It's a win-win for an airline really when the cost to provide a service is above the market price. It's their mix and frankly I can understand it. We don't need to include the price of a meal for a ticket from TPA-ATL. Give me $20 off the ticket for the meal that amounted to tasting no better than a $4 fast food meal. Of i want one then i may give you $8 for one but including stuff in the price is how you got left open to lcc's who said cheaper ticket because we're no frills on the short flights like tpa-atl. It's al la carte pricing, no different than applebees not including a drink in the price as who knows if you want one or a $10 beer?

 

Most business customers don't pay bag fees as they rarely check or have FO or above status allowing them free bags to check. Add in miles, upgrades, lower priced sky club access and most are quite happy.

 

"Travelers, especially business travelers, are not happy with their airlines and baggage fees are triggering their ire, finds an annual, much-watched consumer survey."

 

So, where from is your quoted "annual, much-watched(LOL) consumer survey of business travelers?" Keep in mind that this is the same survey that also quoted "Southwest is also the only major airline that remains profitable." This is apparently a biased survey based on a single quarter, otherwise they would have included DLs rather large profit during year 2010.
Ask those sitting in F if they are generally happy with their experience and if they would switch to a non-bag fee airline such as southwest. You may be surprised.
Try to remember the validity of surveys and what they really try to capture and who they are trying to impress.

 

Bag fees will end when the passengers say no. Truth is, the $$$ passengers are not paying for bag fees. It's now a perk for their commitment to the airline, plus earning miles to redeem on international travel.

The real question is what happens to business travelers who enjoyed low ticket prices and been able to get business class seats out of Atlanta and soon will no longer be able to do that. They'll have to log in 24 hours prior or at midnight or something to get a letter assignment that if they show up and stand in line earlier then they can maybe get the seat they used to get when stuck in coach but not that business class seat.

Ah.... shoe, shall we?



Setting: APCF
Green Skirt Girl 1: Delta Pilots
Green Skirt Girl 2: SWA Pilots
Random Navy Dude 1: Navy Dude
Princess Leia Look A Like: Anorexia Girl

 

The survey comes from: Conde Nast, publisher of established magazines covering fashion, technology, food, and travel, including The New Yorker, Vogue, and Wired.

If you had read the article, you would have seen that the survey has been around since 1994. Also, it directly states that: "The index measures consumer satisfaction with various products and services, and this time it focused on U.S. travelers during the first quarter of 2011." They also went on to state this about Delta's score: "A spokesman for the Atlanta-based airline told the the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that it has improved its on-time performance and completion rate, a measure of how many bags reach the right destinations on time. Those actions, taken in recent weeks, were not reflected in the survey, which took place earlier this year." I don't in any way see how this somehow makes the data invalid, it is a snapshot of customer satisfaction in the first quarter of 2011, just as disclosed.

No where in this article did I see: "Southwest is also the only major airline that remains profitable." So, I have no idea where that came from.

So, in a nutshell. 1) It came from Conde Nast, a respected name in the travel field. 2) They directly stated it was done in the first quarter of '11. 3) It reported that moves made by Delta recently were not reflected in this survey.