Do you think travllers really care who they travel with ?

By: Anonymous (not verified) - 8th March 2000 at 09:54

in Airliner World, Feb 2000, there was the section on Monarch, what are your views on the charter airline market do you think that the 'low cost' carriers of easyJet & Go, will steal market share off non-integrated carriers like Monarch & Sabre & British World ?. Do you think travllers really care who they travel with ?, as Thomas Cook seem to think, to explain why they have rebranded their airlines.

B'ham, West Mids B76 2SJ - Monday, February 07, 2000 at 20:12:11 (GMT)
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By: Anonymous - 29th March 2000 at 08:22 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

RE: Do you think travllers really care who they travel with ?

An interesting point Simon and one that we are addressing in the magazine - our research to to date shows that people care about the airport (for convenience) and then they choose an airline - although a 'bad experience' rather than a 'pleasant experience' tends to add more weight to the jundgement. Airlines need to think very carefully about their relationship with passengers in terms of value, attitude of staff, reliability and a number of other factors. This is one reason we have started the series on in-flight catering - an important aspect of the 'travel experience'.

By: Anonymous - 29th March 2000 at 13:34 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

RE: Do you think travllers really care who they travel with ?

Todays Airline co's only think of one thing money to the share holders .That is why fares are so high.In AUST it'cheeper to go overseas than go to another state.

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By: munnst - 20th April 2000 at 09:59 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

RE: Do you think travllers really care who they travel with ?

As a travellor who as flown with British Airways, US Airways, Delta and Continental I have to admit that they are all much of a muchness. Same sad looking stewardesses, same cramped conditions, same boring food. Personally I look at flying as necessary boredom to get from A to B and travel as cheap as possible. One thing I don't understand though is why the hell don't they ever put any decent films on!

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By: yago - 24th April 2000 at 16:46 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

RE: Do you think travllers really care who they travel with ?

Of course people care.
Or so you should after flying with Air India.
The worst experience possible...

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By: Matthew_1 - 25th April 2000 at 14:43 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

RE: Do you think travllers really care who they travel with ?

One thing that seems to pull customers towards a particular airline is the loyalty programme, with the carrot of free flights in the future seemingly lessening the stick of the uncomfortable flight at present. Furthermore, there must be pereceptible differences in service otherwise it wouldn't be the same group of airlines that keep winning awards, yes, even for service in the "back of the bus", year in, year out.

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By: Will - 4th May 2000 at 16:21 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

RE: Do you think travllers really care who they travel with ?

I think that we do care but it depends where we are going to. The holiday maker traveling to Europe(who can't be bothered to sort it all out independently) dosne't care who they fly they don't want to fly BA or BM and pay an arm and a leg they will fly the with tour operator who will give them the best deal on flight and hotel put together. The Companies up and the UK who send there staff to meetings in europe don't care and nor do there staff. Whats the point in paying £300 or so to fly business class to Lisbon and be up for 2hours and fly from Heathrow which is pain to get into and out of, when you can fly say GO to Lisbon from Stansted pay £80 be up for the same time and get to Lisbon just as refreshed. For short flights people don't care who they fly as long as they get them there.

Long Haul is a different story. The inexperinced holiday maker will fly say Air 2000 because its cheap. But in long haul cheap isn't always the best thing to do. Say you fly to Orlando. Do you fly 9 hours from Gatwick to arrive at Orlando Sanford which is 45-60mins at least from your hotel and have cramp all the way across the atlantic because you don't have enough legroom. Or do you fly from Gatwick into Orlando International with Vrigin for that little bit more have your own tv and entertainment system, get a choice of meal, better service nad most importnatly more Legroom.
Having flown both charter and schd. services all round the world I think that for flights to Europe you might as well fly your Easyjets and Go's and save your money but for a flight to the USA say I think the best option is to pay £80-£100 more and fly a schd carriers such as Vrigin.

By: Anonymous - 22nd June 2000 at 16:15 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

RE: Do you think travllers really care who they travel with ?

In my opinion passengers are not really aware of the price\quality relation they can expect. Most passengers expect delicious meals while paying the lowest price available in the market. In my opinion you get what you pay for.
On the other hand most of the service do not cause a lot of cost to airlines, like a decent treatment of airline personal (a genuine smile, being treated with respect despite of being treated like a little kid the moment you step on airport grounds). This is what mostly annoys me, Airline employees arrogance which is not justifiable in any way.

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By: mc^2 - 3rd July 2000 at 13:20 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

RE: Do you think travllers really care who they travel with ?

>Or so you should after flying with Air India.
>The worst experience possible...
My worst possible experience was with Lufthansa.

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By: Kabir - 3rd July 2000 at 16:03 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

RE: Do you think travllers really care who they travel with ?

Yes people do care. In India it is different. In india nobody sees the inflight catering or inflight services but the safety . As Yago says that he had his worst experience in Air India, I agree in that but Air India has had a good safety record. They only had one crash and that also happended because of terrorisam. I agree with you that Air India has a terrible Inflight service.

cheers

By: Anonymous - 3rd July 2000 at 19:58 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

RE: Do you think travllers really care who they travel with ?

For the record, Air India have had more than one crash in the jet era. Of the 11 B707s operated, one hit Mt Blanc in 1966 at almost exactly the same spot as one of their Super Constellations in
the 1950s, one was wriitten off at Bombay in 1971 and another at Bombay in 1982.

Of the B747s, one was wriiten off over the Arabian Sea in 1978, one was written off at Delhi in 1990, and the Atlantic terrorist crash off Ireland was in 1986.

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By: Comet - 16th October 2000 at 15:05 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

RE: Do you think travllers really care who they travel with ?

I care who I travel with. After the vile experience of spending 1 1/2 hours in an Icelandair jet with a faulty engine, I would rather miss out on going to Iceland than fly with them again.
Also after flying with Air New Zealand and receiving no in-flight service at all because the crew were more concerned about heading to the rest area, I can honestly say I will find another way to travel to LA, even if it means going via Canada, than be ripped off by Air NZ again.