Value for Money: the formula
 

Low cost this, low cost that....
Non-adjustable seats, no shades, yep and probably the pound note to access the shoddy bathroom.

No no no.....

Regular flyers, passengers I mean, take to the low cost phenomenom with deep dislike. Sure it´s cheap, but it makes them feel cheap. It cheapens the morale of the crewmembers.

I say give the people back Value for Money. Low prices, quality, yes quality service, and special treatment by crewmembers. Yes, it sounds a pipe dream.

Of course it takes tremendous amounts of money. The first 3 years will be hard, but the crew and staff are aware of this and can expect a raise in salaries and initiatives on the way to profitability.

If you give the RF ( regular flyer ) quality, ease, happiness and attention above and beyond todays norm, at a low low price, they will be yours. It is happening as you read this.

Quality=Passenger Contentment=Crew Morale=Profit=Long Term, Enjoyable Employment!!


:ok:

Good in theory but in reality if passenger can get from A to B at 1/4 the cost magority will put up with lower standards.

Sounds good to me. But factor in unions and fuel cost and it may not even fly. Personally, I find West Jet to run on that formula but they're low cost and don't have an union. I remember one year watching a short documentry, the CEO said sorry during the year end party to the employees because the year end bonus was smaller than the previous year. Now that's a company I want to work for.

Exactly my point!
They take the lowest price: give them quality along with it, and they´ll be back.
Word gets out, loyalty process begins.
Check out JetBlue results.

What constitutes value for money?
 

No doubt there are countless focus groups and surveys run by the airlines, but what would you be prepared to pay extra for?

* A kid free section of the cabin - add £10-20 onto my ticket price
* Drink dispensers - every office has a water dispenser nowadays. Why have cabin staff prowling up and down the aisles with trays of water / orange juice - let the passengers help themselves.
* In flight entertainment - get the right product and I'd be willing to pay soemthing extra.


What would you pay a premium for?

A comfortable seat.

A confortable seat pitch.

Cabin crew that are recognised by their management as front line staff and paid accordingly. This will improve morale and I may get treated as a human being again.

A snack or meal appropriate for the length of flight and time of day.

A free bar service.

8-10Kgs free carry-on allowance.

20-25 Kgs free checked baggage allowance.

Give me this at a FAIR (and again I emphasize FAIR) price and I'll pay. I"m not prepared tp pay €1000 plus for this on a one hour flight. There surely has to be a happy compromise between ridiculously low Y fares and ridiculously high C fares.

Nice idea but I don't think it will work.

Like a lot of other people I am guilty of hitting the 'sort by fare price button' and buying the one at the top. I then feel a bit peeved at getting nothing more than a small bag of pretzels on a 3 and a half hour flight but I have to accept that it is all I have paid for.

I don't think that anyone can compete with a LoCo price whilst offering 'full quality' service (comparing average prices) and until pax start voting with their feet and head towards full service carriers (who can already still be cheaper than LoCo seats depending on where/when you book) then market forces will find their own level.

Ropey Pilot

the "LoCos" are not cheap anymore. They used to be some 2 years ago, when majors been charging EUR 500-700 for short intra-european return flight in economy. Since then most of majors lowered prices and now it is more or less the same the same money, sometimes even cheaper.
Just an example:

at the moment Ryanair quoting me EUR 134.18 (incl taxes and credit card charge) for
15jul HHN-CIA
18jul CIA-HHN
and that's the cheapest one, if I would like to go on the flights I really prefer it will be EUR 230.18

Lufthansa offering EUR 138.78 (incl taxes) for
15jul FRA-FCO
18jul FCO-FRA
and I have a choice between 5 flights a day, and don't need to drive for 100 km to HHN.

Just guess what I would go for...