Easyjet yield management
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Easyjet yield management
Just wondering how Easyjet is doing yield management / price calculation.
I often find that their price are actually significantly different (both above and below as a matter of fact) from their direct competition on similar legs (say GVA BCN, where Swiss is also offering direct flight within 1.5h of EZY). Why would you, at a given time, propose the exact same product at a 30% discount or premium (I have seen it) ?
Today I have missed my GVA-SXF morning flight and went to the customer service desk to re-book using their “rescue” option (ie a fixed penalty to be re-booked on the next flight, only available – I believe – if you show up at the airport with 2h of departure). Much to my amazement the friendly agent pointed out that it would be cheaper for me to purchase a new ticket outright, which I did. Again what’s the point of this pricing structure ? The evening (next) flight was more than 95% full, there is no direct competition (no one else is flying direct to Berlin from Geneva, and all other one stop one way offers where considerably more expensive) so why sell me something so cheap ?! Not complaining (although I am a very minor shareholder), just trying to understand the system…
Any comments most welcome !
I often find that their price are actually significantly different (both above and below as a matter of fact) from their direct competition on similar legs (say GVA BCN, where Swiss is also offering direct flight within 1.5h of EZY). Why would you, at a given time, propose the exact same product at a 30% discount or premium (I have seen it) ?
Today I have missed my GVA-SXF morning flight and went to the customer service desk to re-book using their “rescue” option (ie a fixed penalty to be re-booked on the next flight, only available – I believe – if you show up at the airport with 2h of departure). Much to my amazement the friendly agent pointed out that it would be cheaper for me to purchase a new ticket outright, which I did. Again what’s the point of this pricing structure ? The evening (next) flight was more than 95% full, there is no direct competition (no one else is flying direct to Berlin from Geneva, and all other one stop one way offers where considerably more expensive) so why sell me something so cheap ?! Not complaining (although I am a very minor shareholder), just trying to understand the system…
Any comments most welcome !
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I can't understand why they seem to muck up schedules so bad, for example take a look at Newcastle to Bristol... Yeah we all want 2 daily flights at 19:10 and 20:40 don't we...
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I can't understand why they seem to muck up schedules so bad, for example take a look at Newcastle to Bristol... Yeah we all want 2 daily flights at 19:10 and 20:40 don't we..
Just how large is the demand for day return trips between NCL and BRS anyway? Surely the vast majority of travellers would opt for a longer stay?
These are particularly high value assets. They must deploy each aircraft on whichever route will yield the highest profit for the company. If Newcastle is not that route and XYZ is, the airline is correct to prioritise the service to XYZ. Shareholders expect no less. Optimisation of ROI is paramount.
You should instead applaud the airline for committing two flights per day to the NCL-BRS route, however sub-optimal you consider the schedule to be. They could undoubtedly command much higher yields by running just the one.
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I can't understand why they seem to muck up schedules so bad, for example take a look at Newcastle to Bristol... Yeah we all want 2 daily flights at 19:10 and 20:40 don't we
Last edited by Hotel Tango; 18th Feb 2016 at 11:59.
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Bit of a flaw in the logic, Shed?
If you suspect that EZY have made the wrong call, e.mail Ms McCall and suggest she drop one of these evening NCL-BRS rotations. - Shed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy-fVA83gu8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy-fVA83gu8
On the contrary, I think EZY are doing pretty well without my advice, but didn't you say in the first quote they should be pursuing max profit and in the second they should be thanked for providing two flights when they could make more one with just one?
Last edited by SWBKCB; 18th Feb 2016 at 10:53.
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I do profoundly apologise for not suggesting that EZY would be wise to run 40 return flights daily between BRS and NCL in accordance with your personal agenda. Reality is so inconvenient sometimes, isn't it?
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Unfortunately APD has seriously effected shirt haul U2 flights which compete with roads and rail. For example, NCL-STN was four daily. That route went about 5 years ago. Now there is an E135 which barely half fills on the once a day flight. BRS is also down to flights where they can attract a good yield and turn a profit.
On a domestic flight (particularly intra England) £16 APD is a significant portion of the ticket. You're limited as to how much you can charge as driving is probably cheaper and door to door there's not much in it time wise. The trains are pretty much hourly too.
The same cannot be said for NCL BFS where there is no practical alternative. Your yields will be better as people are prepared to pay more.
I'm sure they're doing the best they can. I know some of the BRS flights are done by BRS jets assuming they are keeping NCL based jets to operate higher yield routes..
On a domestic flight (particularly intra England) £16 APD is a significant portion of the ticket. You're limited as to how much you can charge as driving is probably cheaper and door to door there's not much in it time wise. The trains are pretty much hourly too.
The same cannot be said for NCL BFS where there is no practical alternative. Your yields will be better as people are prepared to pay more.
I'm sure they're doing the best they can. I know some of the BRS flights are done by BRS jets assuming they are keeping NCL based jets to operate higher yield routes..
Brunel to Concorde
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Just how large is the demand for day return trips between NCL and BRS anyway? Surely the vast majority of travellers would opt for a longer stay?
However, the airline then settled down for a number of years at mainly 3 x daily on weekdays (fewer as always at weekends) giving excellent opportunities for day trips before, a couple of years ago, reducing to basically what we have now which is:
Mon 2 x daily
Tue and Wed daily
Thurs 2 x daily (late afternoon and evening)
Fri 3 x daily (all after midday)
Sat no flights
Sun 3 x daily (all after midday)
Now I'm the first to admit that the airline knows infinitely more about its business than I do but as a mere customer one can't help wonder why they would reduce their service to a point where only Monday provides any sort of opportunity for a day trip (even then very much curtailed especially in Newcastle) and yet, for example, launch Bristol-Isle of Man year-round at 4 x weekly which frankly amazed me as well as some other BRS watchers as we believed that this was a huge overkill on a route that no airline had ever experienced anything approaching a high turnover of traffic. I can't believe the airline made much on this route and now have taken the unsurprising step to reduce BRS-IOM to 2 x weekly for the coming summer.
Looking at the seat selector for the route between Bristol and Newcastle both today's northbounds are shown as sold out as is the first northbound on Sunday, with the first southbound on Sunday and both southbounds on Monday also shown as sold out. Prices for many of the flights in both directions over the next few days are high which I suppose confirms that easyJet's yield management is working even if the actual flight times are of not much use to some of us.
Although there is an hourly rail service between Bristol and Newcastle the journey in each direction takes around five hours which again isn't much help if one wants to travel there and back in a day.
I take the points about APD and aircraft utilisation on routes that turn a greater profit but some decisions, such as Isle of Man, still cause me to wonder.
I find that contacting an airline about specific routes rarely, probably for understandable reasons, elicits anything more than a generalised reply.
Thread Starter
Thanks for the contributions...
Any chance to steer back the discussion to the initial topic ?
Any chance to steer back the discussion to the initial topic ?
Last edited by atakacs; 19th Feb 2016 at 16:40.