Not in the high rollers club yet so I travel economy class. On my way to Bangalore there were twelve business class seats that were vacant. And on my way back from Chennai, business class was doing no-business..again. Interestingly none of the 180 economy class seats were vacant. I think the airlines can spend some thought and make these vacant seats earn some revenue, customer loyalty and the like for them.
What if, when the airline staff is issuing boarding passes to economy travelers, they pitch for upgrading them to business class at a nominal charge. If there are frequent flyers in economy class they should be given preference. They just need to hit a fairly easy success rate of 6.6% to fill up all the business class seats.(12/180*100). Once business class is taken care of, offer the 12 now-vacant economy class seats to last minute travelers at a premium. Of course, there can be million other combinations that airlines can work upon to ensure that all the seats in a plane does and means business.
These days when all the airlines are crying about high fuel prices, low margins etc. they need to first understand that a little bit of homework on their part will go a long way in helping their cause.
Opportunity missed is opportunity lost...right?
1 comment:
Your point is well taken, but most airlines in the world give away those Business Class seats to their frequent flyers, and the 12 vacant coach class seats... well these flights are almost always over booked.... Got to be, considering the fact that they are selling one of the most persihable commodities...
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