Re: OR UNITED?? Soon, no free drinks if you fly US Airways

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

________________________________________
From: Matthew Tarpy [tarpy () tarpify com]
Sent: Monday, June 16, 2008 10:53 AM
To: David Farber; ip
Subject: RE: [IP] OR UNITED??  Soon, no free drinks if you fly US Airways

Hi Dave (and IP)--

I think we need to come to terms with the fact that flying within the US
(on the mainline carriers) has fundamentally started to change. These
dinosaurs are trying anything and everything to get just a little more
revenue in to stave off the eventual collapse of their business model.
What's the airline to consistently post profits? Southwest, and
eventually we're all going to move to that model.

I am on an assignment right now that has me flying weekly from O'Hare to
Cincinnati...I'm on a small RJ, that seats around 40 people. It kills me
that during the approximately 40 minutes we're airborne American Eagle
has the flight attendant hustle through a drinks service. If that were
to magically go away one day, not only wouldn't I miss it, I'd frankly
be surprised that it took so long. The cost to cater the plane and serve
you 1/3 of a can of soda probably runs them $100 for the flight (ice,
soda, service charge from Skychefs/Swissport/whoever). Multiply that by
the 14 ORD/CVG/ORD flights a day, you're saving $1400, multiply that out
by 365 days, and you've just cut out $511K on just one regional jet
route. It's not hard to see the appeal of that type of cost savings
being bubbled out throughout a mainline's network, especially with oil
prices giving airline executives a major case of the "holy craps."

I say this not as one who hates the mainlines; far from it, I've had
AAdvantage Platinum status for almost a decade, and am already well into
getting my 2nd million miles on AA, but I think that the current
marketplace is neither rational nor long tenable. I think within the
next 5 years we'll be down to three mainline carriers
(American/Continental and United/UsAir, and if they survive Delta/NWA),
and a bunch of hungry cut-rate carriers (Southwest, JetBlue, and Virgin
America). God help the mainlines if Michael O'Leary gets puckish, and
decides to open up Ryanair America...he'll clean their clocks.

--Matthew

-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber [mailto:dave () farber net]
Sent: Monday, June 16, 2008 4:34 AM
To: ip
Subject: [IP] OR UNITED?? Soon, no free drinks if you fly US Airways


________________________________________
From: redblk () dslextreme com [redblk () dslextreme com]
Sent: Monday, June 16, 2008 2:15 AM
To: frisbee2 () yahoogroups com
Cc: David Farber
Subject: Re: [frisbee2] Soon, no free drinks if you fly US Airways

I was on an "experimental" flight today where United flight attendants
were selling food and drinks and taking credit cards.  Not a bad idea
considering nobody carries cash anymore.

Calvin


Eric Glover
>
http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.drinks13jun13,0,2294921.stor
y
> ------------------------
> Water, coffee, juice, sodas due on pay list
>
> By Laura McCandlish | Sun reporter
>      June 13, 2008
>
> Talk about taking the fizz out of air travel.
>
> US Airways will become the first major U.S. airline in August to
charge
> domestic coach passengers for soft drinks, juices, coffee and bottled
> water as part of a shift to what it calls a "pay-for-what-you-use"
> business model.
>
> The $2-a-pop beverage charge is the latest in a raft of new charges
> airlines have been imposing to help pay for record fuel costs.
>
> Free nonalcoholic beverages have been one of the last freebies handed
> out by domestic airlines, which already charge for alcoholic beverages
> and - except for Continental - for meals and even snacks on domestic
> flights.
>
> ...
> ------------------------




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