Aa Draws A Bead On B6...again

[Speedbird]

Here's a link to the WP article of the same name:

Washington Post

This latest "assault" by AA just screams desperation on their part. A quote from the article link sums it up very succinctly"

American's move amounts to an admission it cannot stem the loss of market share to low-cost carriers running a point-to-point operation by just cutting fares or adding seats to planes flying low-fare routes.

Now that jetBlue is the largest carrier at JFK with over 6.8 million passengers carried through Oct 30, 2003, and thus barely eclipsing AA with 6.7 million. I guess the gloves are really gonna come off at AA now...no messing around this time...jetBlue is gonna get taught a lesson.....(you fill in the blank).

Bottomline, this situation illustrates just how upside down and crazy this business has become when the world's largest airline has to resort to such insane tactics against a flea-like LCC with only 50 aircraft and 7,000 employees.

I give this strategy less than six months before it gets pulled.

 

[latreal]

Here's a link to the WP article of the same name:

Washington Post

This latest "assault" by AA just screams desperation on their part. A quote from the article link sums it up very succinctly"



Now that jetBlue is the largest carrier at JFK with over 6.8 million passengers carried through Oct 30, 2003, and thus barely eclipsing AA with 6.7 million. I guess the gloves are really gonna come off at AA now...no messing around this time...jetBlue is gonna get taught a lesson.....(you fill in the blank).

Bottomline, this situation illustrates just how upside down and crazy this business has become when the world's largest airline has to resort to such insane tactics against a flea-like LCC with only 50 aircraft and 7,000 employees.

I give this strategy less than six months before it gets pulled.

(NOTE: I am an admitted AA fan and married to an employee..)

Ion't know Speedbird maybe just maybe B6 should be a little nervous with this one.
I will admit to being a little embarrassed that AA has let it come to this in the first place, and I will agree that its a desparaton move but you got to get deparate if everything else fails. Now the gloves are off and if they fail I agree that that will be all....as far as them challenging B6. They will follow B6 promotions after that.

But.... I can't, after reviewing the promotion, bring myself to blow this off. It's a damn good/tempting offer.


You should also note that I believe seniority should be earned at the carrier you worked at only. Maybe AA is trying to scare B6 into a sell.

<_< Anythings possible <_<

(Note: Please don't work yourself up about my post..just a little friendly competition talk, chest thumping.)

 

[Speedbird]

Sorry I didn't respond to this sooner latreal, but I don't have ill will aginst you with your post. I'm glad AA has made its 2 for 1 offering so cheap. I already booked a couple of "free" flights to Florida next month with AA. Not that I needed to go to Florida before the sale, but it will give me a good 30-50% off for my planned trip to Europe later this year. Only a fool would turn something this good down.

 

[AAmech]

I think this title is a little silly. Isn't it B6 that has drawn a bead on AA? Along with US,UA,DL,CO? Its just a promotion to keep the AA name out there in front of the flying public. And its doing a great job! Why make such a big deal about it?

 

[Winglet]

I think JB is going to have to mature a little more before it's vunerable to any of the majors. Right now it's riding high on low basic costs that will certainly go up in the future. When they do, then there might be a chink in the armor . . . . that is if DAL, UAL, and AA live that long. I think JB and SW already have U on the ground with a sucking chest wound.

 

[Hopeful]

Here's a little history lesson. For those of you who remember PEOPLE EXPRESS,
they went after EASTERN AIRLINES in all their profitable markets. EAL, then led by Frank Borman exhibited their arrogance by not taking People Express seriously and preaching that that the passenger would pay the extra money to fly EASTERN. We all know how that turned out and even though PEOPLE no longer exists, the legacy they left behind defined the low cost carrier. So you can't blame AA or the other majors for not rolling over everytime Jetblue enters a market.

 

[MiAAmi]

Its basically keeping the AA customer with AA and reminding them that AA has a much larger network. B6 gets kudos for stirring up the pot, the industry needed it. Whether we see TV on the majors anytime soon is yet to be seen. Just like WN and the majors B6 does raise the fares in markets that it dominates, but the mindset of the customer is that they are always lower than the majors. Thats what AA is trying to get across to its customers AA has low fares and a bigger network.

 

[ELP_WN_Psgr]

MiAAmi:

You state >>Just like WN and the majors B6 does raise the fares in markets that it dominates, but the mindset of the customer is that they are always lower than the majors<<

Here is my question:

Where does WN do this?

I am thinking of WN markets where they dominate (DAL to anywhere, Intra-Texas, Intra California, Intra Florida, Phoenix to California, Las Vegas) and even where they have a monopoly (BNA-MCI, MCI-OKC come to mind) and I am hard pressed to think of a single WN market where the fare is excessive....or where it is even comparable to what the so-called majors would charge on a flight of similar length.

 

[FreqFlyr]

AA is executing desperate measures for desparete times! They really don't have the money to make this offer. They will continue to hemorrage cash until they can get their CASM inline with the LCC's.

This is truly a moronic ploy by AA. JB will continue to fill its A/C and make a profit and AA will continue to loss cash. In the NY market there is plenty to go around with a customer base of 20 million people. Yes people should take advantage of this great offer from AA , but when it dries up and they need to jack up their fares, its back to the same situation.

Why don't the majors take out an add that reads....

"We been screwing you for years in this wonderful land of capitolism. Now that some one else has come along and does it better and more efficiently then us, we have to say NO FAIR! We'll offer you free tickets if you come back to us and then when we get you back and eliminate the competition we'll screw ya again"


Simply put JB offers a superior product in the markets that it flys to. LIVE TV & XM SAT radio coming.

 

[Hopeful]

FREQFLYER:
You're wrong. AA can afford to do this. Because the employees gave them so much in concessions, it's quite easy. Believe it or not, AA's seats are filled and the load factors are at all time highs month after month.
JetBlue may have LiveTV and satellite radio, but you cant watch tv and listen to radio and fly to Europe, SouthAMerica, Central America, Hawaii, Asia.etc etc etc

AA"s next challenge is to get the employees to swallow JetBlue style pension plans. And when that happens, AA can afford to give away seats.

My neighbor who has been flying Jetblue to Florida since the first flight took off has bought the tickets on AA for the family for the the first of his two annual FLA trips so he can take them to Europe.

All of a sudden, TV and that great customer service isn't all that important when you are getting something for free.

 

[AAmech]

AA is executing desperate measures for desparete times! They really don't have the money to make this offer. They will continue to hemorrage cash until they can get their CASM inline with the LCC's.

This is truly a moronic ploy by AA. JB will continue to fill its A/C and make a profit and AA will continue to loss cash. In the NY market there is plenty to go around with a customer base of 20 million people. Yes people should take advantage of this great offer from AA , but when it dries up and they need to jack up their fares, its back to the same situation.

Why don't the majors take out an add that reads....

"We been screwing you for years in this wonderful land of capitolism. Now that some one else has come along and does it better and more efficiently then us, we have to say NO FAIR! We'll offer you free tickets if you come back to us and then when we get you back and eliminate the competition we'll screw ya again"


Simply put JB offers a superior product in the markets that it flys to. LIVE TV & XM SAT radio coming.

I guess you missed the news. AA is far from "Hemmoraging" cash, it has been cash positive for two quarters now and even had a 100mil operating profit last quarter!
This is turning out to be a brilliant promotion for AA to show off its superior product. Fly a Low Choice Carrier with TV to Syracuse. Or AA to Tokyo, London or Rio!!! Over 20,000 people signed up for it in one week. Its a great way to reward our great customers with a seat that would otherwise go empty!

 

[JFK777]

AA or JB, I don't care who bigger because they compete only partially agianst each other. Jb doesn't compete agianst BA, VS, ANA, AF, LH or JAL. AA does, since I don't see JB charging huge fares to LHR or NRT with Club or First Class the point is moot. JB is good at what it does, and does it very well. But I don't see 777 flying for 7 or 14 hours in JB future. Compete aginst AA to SJU, sure why not, but I don't see JB buying Dom Perignon for it Luxury passenger anytime soon.

 

[Hopeful]

The problem is AA likes to use JetBlue as a catalyst for getting costs down. JFK is the main base for JetBlue, of course they will fly more passengers out of there than anyone else. Aside from Jetblue, the only other carriers to call JFK home were PanAm and TWA. Keep in mind, the growing pains are starting and with that come the downsides. I am glad however that AA, and now Delta are not sticking their tails between their legs and running everytime Jetblue enters a market.

 

[JFK777]

As long as JB's biggest airplane is a A320, they will stay to within 6 hours of JFK. No Europe or South America. The Caribean, Mexico, and all of North America are fair game. Honolulu maybe, from Long Beach? I think JB needs to find another JFK typr airport where it can have a 100 flights daily.

Boston has similar characteristics to New York: New England commuter flights, lack of dominane by one hub airline, AA to California, LHR & Song to Florida. BOS could be a mirror image of JFK 250 mile to the North East. IAD would work too, but with UA and the soon Independence AIR with 25 A320's, that getting crowded. Good Luck JB!