Class struggle in the skies

[PAXboy]

The Independent 23rd October 2007
Forget economy: first-class passengers are the people who keep airlines in profit. So it's no wonder Virgin Atlantic is threatening legal action to put off alleged imitators. Jerome Taylor reports - and finds out how to fly in style

When you have customers willing to spend anything up to £9,000 for a flight it is hardly surprising that today's airlines jealously guard the exclusive amenities they offer to their first class and business travellers.
[SNIP PARAGRAPH]
In fact, so important are the individual luxuries that differentiate one carrier from its competitors that Virgin Atlantic has started legal proceedings against the company that designed the airline's flagship Upper Class "herringbone" seats.


The article continues:
http://travel.independent.co.uk/news_and_advice/article3087661.ece

[Final 3 Greens]

I doubt that VS would survive for long on the income from their first class pax :}

[Eboy]

"Forget economy: first-class passengers are the people who keep airlines in profit."

Is that true?

Anyway, if Virgin has patents on seats, it can try to enforce them. But, Contour seems to be saying the "unique" seating may predate Virgin's patents. If so, there is prior art that a court could cite in invalidating Virgin's patents.

They'll settle, probably.

Patents, and patent lawsuits, can be a good source of income for high-tech companies. Why not the airlines?

[PAXboy]

Is that true?Yep. The cost per cubic inch/metre or whichever rule you use says that the premium cabins pay a premium price and a substantial one at that. Also, the folks who travel in C + F usually travel more often and so repeat business is easier, this is vital to carriers as they do not have to acquire the customer each time.

A family travelling in Y may travel with a different carrier for each holiday, shopping only on price and route. They may have loyalty to one carrier but loyalty is greatly reduced and, for the carrier, it is much easier to provide the kind of things that generate loyalty to those that are paying loadsofmoney.

I posted this to be of mild amusement and would counsel against another fest of bashing the carriers (fun though it is!).

[radeng]

I'm very dubious about patents. I've generated something like 23 applications, about 17 of which became full patents, and some have been allowed to expire. The advantage of them is that they look good on a CV, and in the case of my employer, pay about $5000 before tax once they get grtanted. They didn't always...

[daedalus]

i just find first class bizarre. What kind of a lunatic would pay the cost of a luxury car for perhaps 8-9 hours of limited cosseting?
Better fly Y class to Bangkok (for example) and check-in at a splendid hotel like the Davis for a month (costs much, much, less and infinitely better cosseting!)
Of course its the fat cats who fly 1st class and the pillocks who give them their ill-gotten gains who pay for it.
:}

[10secondsurvey]

Daedalus,
The kind of 'lunatics' who fly first class, are those to whom the cost is not important, They fly first and stay in the very best hotels as well, it isn't one or the other. Of course with BA you can buy club, and upgrade with miles to F. Some of the people I know who travel First, work hard for their money, and enjoy spending it in style
I believe part of the reason Concorde was so expensive, was down to a survey which BA did. They asked R (supersonic class) pax how much their flight cost, and most didn't know or heavily over estimated. So BA had a think (for about a second), and bumped the prices up to those over-estimated prices the pax already believed they were paying.
As regards only First class pax being responsible for airline profits, it is clearly nonsense. Of course, a large part of revenue comes from F pax, but why on earth would an airline have 200 odd economy seats per long haul flight, if they aren't profitable. Does anybody really believe that each economy pax seat is sold at a loss?? I thinketh not.
In addition, Virgin does not have first class. Upper class is regarded as a good business class (which it is).

[bealine]

I'm very dubious about patents
You and me both!
My brother designed and installed the very first electronic key for hotel rooms back in 1969 and registered the patent - the card was waved over a panel in the door which shot the lock once triggered. A very large household named company wanted to promote the product and pay my sibling a pittance of a "retainer" which he politely refused.
The result was that the company changed the design slightly so that the key card was inserted into a slot and registered a patent for the new design.
So the inventor got nothing, the "copycat" is now a "world-class" company!
(............and there are, when you investigate, thousands of similar stories!)

So, I doubt whether Sir Richard's latest chip-on-the-shoulder will bear fruit!