No airline is perfect, but US is headed in the wrong direction, and fast.
I'm still somewhat amazed at the wealth of info available on the airlines, as long as one is willing to wait for it to be available.
The
Consumer Air Fare Report is published quarterly, with about an 5 month delay. Thus, the latest available is for 2Q06. It has a number of tables, but table 5 shows short-haul markets (less than 750 miles) with a breakdown of fares paid by O&D passengers in that market by carrier (only those having 10% or more market share).
For example, the first market that US/HP shows up in is CVG-PHL and shows this for US:
9,130 40% | $289 | $100 8% | $675 7% | 37%
The first 2 numbers (9,130 40%) are the number of O&D passengers we carried in this market and our market share.
Next is the average fare ($289) we collected from O&D passengers in this market.
Then comes the lowest "fare bucket" - the lowest $25 fare increment that at least 5% of O&D passengers paid. In this case, 8% of O&D passengers paid between $75 and $100.
Next is the highest "fare bucket" - 7% of our O&D passengers paid from $650 to $675.
Last is the percentage of O&D passengers who paid at least 3 times the lowest "fare bucket" - 37% paid at least $300. In this particular market, with it's high top fares, it's not surprising to see such a high percentage paying 3X the low "fare bucket". It's a very different story in lower fare markets.
Finally, the average for the 288 short-haul markets where US/HP is shown. Leaving out number of passengers and market share, the numbers look like this:
$196 | $125 15% | $275 9% | 6%
To collect an average O&D fare of $196, we sell 15% of the tickets for between $100 and $125. At the higher end, we sell 9% of tickets for between $250 and $275. Finally, we sell 6% of tickets for over $375.
So where's all this leading? It sure seems to me that we're adding seats to sell to the lower end fare purchasers - primarily those who travel occassionally and are looking for the cheaper fare. Meanwhile, we're taking away perks (and seats to upgrade to) from the upper end fare purchaser - usually those who travel regularily and will take their money to whomever offers the best value per dollar spent.
For every one of those 9% in the high "fare bucket" that leaves because of the changes, we have to sell at least 2 tickets to the folks who look for the low "fare bucket" fares to come out even. For every one of those 6% that pay at least 3X the low "bucket" fare, we have to sell at least 3 tickets to those looking for those low "bucket" fares. Lose enough of the higher-yield traffic and pretty soon 100% LF won't pay the bills.
Jim