PlaneBuzz is a newer product from Holly Hegeman, the person behind the weekly PlaneBusiness Banter. Luv her writing style, and for those that remember, she was formerly The Motley Fool's "Wings".
Holly writes: It was announced today that Southwest Airlines won the Business Travel News Annual Airline Survey for 2006.
Now I usually don't make much of such contests, awards, etc.
But I think this one is a fairly nice grab for the folks at Southwest (LUV:NYSE)as its the first time in the nine-year history of the award that neither Continental (CAL:NYSE) or American (AMR:NYSE)took top honors.
Or as BTN said, "For the first time, a low-cost domestic carrier that does not offer corporate contracts, an international network, a business class cabin or global distribution system participation drew the highest marks in an annual survey of executives responsible for purchasing corporate airline services."
There was a rather amusing quote from American Airlines' vice-president Frank Morogiello in the BTN announcement. "I would think managed travel programs would give Southwest the worst ranking: They don't offer corporate discounts, they don't run agency programs—they're totally against a managed travel program. You can't fail if you don't have a corporate contract that you have to do a review on, you can't fail if you don't have an agency program that you win or lose, and you can't fail if you don't offer amenities."
Ah, is it just me or does Mr. Morogiello sound like he is living in the past? Who needs corporate discounts when your base fares are lower to begin with Frank? Oh, and what amenities does American offer these days? Having recently flown first class on American, I can't say I was overly impressed by the experience. And I'm still trying to think about what amenities I received, as food was certainly not one of them.
As BTN explained in their release, "However, for buyers responding to this year's survey, price was king. In response to an open-ended question about the primary way their preferred carriers in the next year could keep their business, respondents overwhelmingly asked for more favorable pricing."
The release included one excerpt from a participant to make its point, "Southwest has made us feel like they care and value our business, even though we are a small account."
Let's look at these reasons. Low price and "they made us feel like they care and value our business."
Mr. Morogiello, did you write these reasons down? Do we need to explain how this works any further?
Holly writes: It was announced today that Southwest Airlines won the Business Travel News Annual Airline Survey for 2006.
Now I usually don't make much of such contests, awards, etc.
But I think this one is a fairly nice grab for the folks at Southwest (LUV:NYSE)as its the first time in the nine-year history of the award that neither Continental (CAL:NYSE) or American (AMR:NYSE)took top honors.
Or as BTN said, "For the first time, a low-cost domestic carrier that does not offer corporate contracts, an international network, a business class cabin or global distribution system participation drew the highest marks in an annual survey of executives responsible for purchasing corporate airline services."
There was a rather amusing quote from American Airlines' vice-president Frank Morogiello in the BTN announcement. "I would think managed travel programs would give Southwest the worst ranking: They don't offer corporate discounts, they don't run agency programs—they're totally against a managed travel program. You can't fail if you don't have a corporate contract that you have to do a review on, you can't fail if you don't have an agency program that you win or lose, and you can't fail if you don't offer amenities."
Ah, is it just me or does Mr. Morogiello sound like he is living in the past? Who needs corporate discounts when your base fares are lower to begin with Frank? Oh, and what amenities does American offer these days? Having recently flown first class on American, I can't say I was overly impressed by the experience. And I'm still trying to think about what amenities I received, as food was certainly not one of them.
As BTN explained in their release, "However, for buyers responding to this year's survey, price was king. In response to an open-ended question about the primary way their preferred carriers in the next year could keep their business, respondents overwhelmingly asked for more favorable pricing."
The release included one excerpt from a participant to make its point, "Southwest has made us feel like they care and value our business, even though we are a small account."
Let's look at these reasons. Low price and "they made us feel like they care and value our business."
Mr. Morogiello, did you write these reasons down? Do we need to explain how this works any further?
