on 15 March 2010
When it comes to certain fees and marketing possibilities, Continental and Southwest airlines are two carriers flying in different directions.
Continental revealed today that in the fall it will no longer serve free meals in the economy cabin on certain U.S./Canada and Latin America routes.
“Our traditional free-food model has served us well for many years, but we need to change to reflect today’s market and customer preferences,” states Jim Compton, Continental’s chief marketing officer.
However, there were no data cited to back up apparent claims that Continental economy-cabin passengers prefer to pay for onboard meals.
Meanwhile, Southwest has a different strategy on ancillary services. It claims to have picked up market share with its bags-fly-free policies.
Southwest indeed implemented several new fees last year, but today it debuted a new video featuring Southwest employees, who revealed much about their true feelings about the airline’s bags-fly free policy.
Here’s the video:
Southwest says it will unveil seven new spots involving similar themes over the next few days.
In addition, Southwest ads featuring employees will appear in online banner ads and at the airport, as well.
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I wrote the following comment in response to a post on on Scott Gillespie’s blog comparing airlines to movie theaters.
Truly the end of one era & I predict the beginning of a new one where airlines move to reduce cabin crews to the minimum staff required solely for safety purposes.
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You make a great analogy between the airlines & the movies both have a lot of people who bring in their own food & drinks.
I am continually amazed by friends (some with big annual incomes) that smuggle in their own food & drinks because they feel the price/quality/value ratio is out of whack at theaters.
It isn’t about what they can afford, it is about paying extortive prices for marginal quality items.
My personal feeling is that this will lead to a wider variety of better quality food being made available inside security near boarding gates and carried onto the planes by passengers.
That may result in increased profits for airports and the food service operators, but reduce inflight demand, and as a result the variety of options available on the plane.
In essence, this policy starts charging for something that most travelers deemed a low satisfaction experience.
The result is less space allocated for food storage & preparation and ultimately, the ability for airlines to reduce the number of cabin crew to the greater of 1:50 seats on narrow body aircraft and 1 per exit on wide body benchmark.
It is the end of an era.
For example, in the 1970’s, on the approx. 1+ hour Dallas – Denver route, Frontier Airlines would serve a steak & lobster meal service on a 97-seat, all coach, 737 using only 3 flight attendants.
Airline meals, RIP.
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Here’s the link to the original post: http://j.mp/b9GpCr
> However, there were no data cited to back up apparent
> claims that Continental economy-cabin passengers
> prefer to pay for onboard meals.
Ha — good one