Originally Posted by
tsimbeit
American air carriers: an old-fashioned oligopoly.
Profit motive: Airline profit per customer in 2017 (projected)
America's airlines vs Europe's
US$20 vs US$5,65
(Source IATA)
The sorry rankings of America's airlines,
the world's top 100 airlines in 2016:
4. Cathay Pacific
22. Dragonair
29. Hong Kong Airlines
35. Delta Airlines
68. United Airlines
77. American Airlines
(Source: Skytrax)
Well then, the HARD question to answer then becomes why are they expanding and making money while CX is contracting and supposedly losing money (oh, and they pay their pilots more too).
Passengers and Pilots alike vote with their wallets and feet — and THIS is the vote (and award) that counts.
I think the key point to remember (‘awards’ dont figure into it) is people don’t necessarily go to the lowest COST, but to what they perceive the greatest VALUE for their money to be. Fr’ instance, apple products are seldom discounted but people continue to buy them (every dog has his day and even blue chips can make blunders costing them dearly which is something wise to remember). Would you buy a bag of stale (but edible) potato chips because the fresh one cost 2 bucks more ?
Penny wise and pound foolish (which we IMHO seem to embrace more than we should) is the opposite of a VALUE based process.