LUV BOS_PHL

[PBI2FLL]

I'll be happy when our company can finally start making a profit! PERIOD.
Fares on average as we all know have been unrealistic for years. How is it that you can pay the same price for an airline ticket today that you did 20 years ago? Is this the only industry that doesn't adjust for inflation? Been grocery shopping lately? How about your utility bill? Filled up your car at the pump?

 

[Pilot692]

Let me chime in here for a minute. I'm not ok working for a company that bases it's business on gouging customers with absolutely NO plan on how to compete with the LCC when they hop into said market. I'm sorry but it doesn't seem like a great plan to me. US will have a difficult time demanding price on many routes against the new "mega" carriers and certainly has no pricing power against most LCC's namely Southwest. US is running out of places to charge those fares. US still needs to decide who and what they are. Do you hear in ANY corporate mumbo jumbo the words "BUSINESS CASUAL" anymore? NOPE! ! ! Do you hear US touting themselves as THE worlds largest LCC? NOPE! ! ! The only people that believe a Hybrid airline works is those that created it on Rio Dorito Blvd. LCC's and certainly legacy carriers have NO interest in US or their style or marketing. US has more of an identity crisis than Pat from Saturday Night Live. All said, US just lost one of the last big price gouging routes for them with WN entering PHL-BOS. Sure US will hold it's own I'm sure but does anyone believe that WN entering this market won't put a HUGE dent in US on the route? 😉

One thing that is happening currently in BOS is good old "Southwest Effect". When they announced BOS-PHL, all the commuters to PHL breathed a sigh of relef as they now had a second, more reliable way of getting there. What actually happened is now ALL the PHL flights are full (there is a story making the rounds of systems must-riding 4 or 5 F/A/s out of BOS so they could make their trips) and the market upscales thanks to Southwest.
The problem US has always had for decades is they attempt to fill every seat at wharever fare they can grab utilizing the logic of "if we charge too much the people will book away". The part they always fail to realize is the other airlines are full as well. We've listened to the crap from marketing for years about "no yield to FL". Jet Blue should have really been named No Yield To Florida Airways, started by US Air. We virtually invented them and see to their growth on a continuing basis. US Air was the largest carrier at Logan for years and years. We are currently in the process of going to 7% of traffic at Logan. Guess who the largest carrier at Logan is......yup....JB. They've also started nonstops to most of the major west coast cities and are kicking the crap out of AA on those routes. We've screamed for years to pick up that stuff and management ignored us. I've always wondered at the logic of stuffing the airplane full at nonsensical prices and then burning the additional gas to lug it around, versus having sensible fares (like somebody's gonna blow up their vaca over $20.) and a few empty seats for last minute high-buck walkups, a lighter more fuel-efficient flight and (an unrealized biggie here) not beating the crap out of both the equipment and the workforce.
But after living out of Logan since '74, what the heck do I know.....?

Boston, Jet Blue's largest revenue city in the country.

 

[sfb]

PHL:

I don't disagree with you at all. I'm saying that I'm not gonna gripe if the company I work for--be it US, The Electric Company or Dominoes Pizza--charges a preimuim for a service, and as a result makes money in doing so. If my company is making money charging a premium that's good for the company and for me. If the market for whatever reason can't sustain it then it won't.

But it is also clear that a company can make money and pay its employees well even without gouging its customers or charging them a significant premium. As a case in point, Southwest's walk-up fare between BOS and BWI -- a route on which they compete with both Jetblue and AirTran -- is currently $141 each way. But even on a route of similar length where they hold a virtual monopoly -- LAS-RNO -- the walk-up fare is only $151 each way. Meanwhile, US charges $399 as a one-way walk-up fare between CLT and BNA, and that's "cheap" compared to what they were charging when they still held a monopoly between BOS and PHL.

US Airways' "premium" fare strategy failed to prevent two trips to bankruptcy court, while Southwest's model of reasonable "business" fares has been profitable (on an annual basis) for over three decades.

 

[FlyUs]

One thing that is happening currently in BOS is good old "Southwest Effect". When they announced BOS-PHL, all the commuters to PHL breathed a sigh of relef as they now had a second, more reliable way of getting there. What actually happened is now ALL the PHL flights are full (there is a story making the rounds of systems must-riding 4 or 5 F/A/s out of BOS so they could make their trips) and the market upscales thanks to Southwest.
The problem US has always had for decades is they attempt to fill every seat at wharever fare they can grab utilizing the logic of "if we charge too much the people will book away". The part they always fail to realize is the other airlines are full as well. We've listened to the crap from marketing for years about "no yield to FL". Jet Blue should have really been named No Yield To Florida Airways, started by US Air. We virtually invented them and see to their growth on a continuing basis. US Air was the largest carrier at Logan for years and years. We are currently in the process of going to 7% of traffic at Logan. Guess who the largest carrier at Logan is......yup....JB. They've also started nonstops to most of the major west coast cities and are kicking the crap out of AA on those routes. We've screamed for years to pick up that stuff and management ignored us. I've always wondered at the logic of stuffing the airplane full at nonsensical prices and then burning the additional gas to lug it around, versus having sensible fares (like somebody's gonna blow up their vaca over $20.) and a few empty seats for last minute high-buck walkups, a lighter more fuel-efficient flight and (an unrealized biggie here) not beating the crap out of both the equipment and the workforce.
But after living out of Logan since '74, what the heck do I know.....?

Boston, Jet Blue's largest revenue city in the country.

No doubt US has reduced capacity at Logan.. but going down to 7%? Where did you get that number? The only discontinued flights recently have been Caribbean

 

[Pilot692]

No doubt US has reduced capacity at Logan.. but going down to 7%? Where did you get that number? The only discontinued flights recently have been Caribbean

Quoted in the Herald as well as the Air Travel Journal- the local airport fishwrapper. And they have only started "discontinuing". But with the failure of both the UAL and slot swap, things may change. We can take it back...we just need the will. Apparently there is a "will" shortage in tempe.

 

[Black Swan]

But it is also clear that a company can make money and pay its employees well even without gouging its customers or charging them a significant premium. As a case in point, Southwest's walk-up fare between BOS and BWI -- a route on which they compete with both Jetblue and AirTran -- is currently $141 each way. But even on a route of similar length where they hold a virtual monopoly -- LAS-RNO -- the walk-up fare is only $151 each way. Meanwhile, US charges $399 as a one-way walk-up fare between CLT and BNA, and that's "cheap" compared to what they were charging when they still held a monopoly between BOS and PHL.

US Airways' "premium" fare strategy failed to prevent two trips to bankruptcy court, while Southwest's model of reasonable "business" fares has been profitable (on an annual basis) for over three decades.

USAirways has capped demand on their routes where they hold monopolies for years by keeping fares unreasonably high. This discourages travel, and alienates those who are taken advantage of by unreasonable fares. If the fares had been more reasonable, it would have spurred more demand. And kept the LUV boat away. They are definitely attracted to markets where this airline gouges. Then they become the white knight.