Aug 27, 2019 10 Reasons Airline Pricing Sucks

Airlines still haven’t created a great experience for the average passenger yet.  I believe this is because customers and travel aggregation platforms have focused on low cost.  But I also believe that customers focus on low cost because the quality, services, and the unique benefits each airline provides is not easily comparable.  

That must be frustrating to airlines that provide a better experience. So in the spirit of David Letterman, we’ve created a top 10 list of “Why airline pricing sucks.”  

1. Wait… this ticket doesn’t include an assigned seat? To reserve a specific seat, I need to pay more?
   
2. ”I’m sorry sir, water isn’t included on this five hour flight.”  
   
3. Why am I paying the same price for a middle seat?
   
4. Don’t want your knees touching the seat in front of you?  Pay extra!
   
5. Pay extra to check a bag so that it takes longer to get out of the airport?  No thanks, I’ll just put a week of luggage in the overhead.
   
6. Free wifi?  Expensive wifi?  No wifi? Let’s make it a mystery when purchasing the flight… everyone likes mysteries, right?   
7. In seat entertainment, free movies, BYO device, or absolutely no entertainment besides the child next to me … could you let me know?
   
8. Let’s sort it all by low cost.  Why would people care about direct flights, transit time or the frequency this flight is on time?
   
9. Standup options used to be a joke, but they are becoming a real thing.
   
10. Seriously, fare price is going to be based on weight ? Customers are going to love getting on a scale as part of their travel. 

If people don’t realize the difference in service and quality between flights, why would they pay for it?  The same applies to move pricing.

… So on a related note, we’re trying to identify moving metrics that matter.  We want to measure and differentiate movers’ quality and performance innovatively so that our industry doesn’t become a race to the bottom.

If you have an opinion on how we can make our industry better through metrics that matter, we'd love to hear them.