Sorry we’re late this week. At least y’all didn’t mount a massive hate campaign on social media like some airlines face.
- Qatar’s got problems. They’re political, humanitarian and aeronautical.
- United is launching LAX-SIN and cutting the HKG-SIN route; Pacific 5th freedoms continue to die for US carriers
- Basic Economy is confusing, even with the warnings.
- An emotional support animal attacked a Delta passenger. Our response is probably not what you’d expect.
- Seth was at the IATA AGM in Cancun last week and sat in on the Richard Quest session that was pretty interesting with respect to airlines responding to social media viral stories
Also, thanks to some of our podcast sponsors via Patreon:
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- Jonathan H.
- Daelan D.
- Charles H.
- Peter M.
- Eoin K.
- Ralph L.
- Reid F.
- Mr. Fritz
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Hi DLD gang,
It has been a while since I left a comment. I just want to say I am happy to be a patreon supporter. It feels like most of my favorite blogs/youtube channels are going this way and it just makes sense.
I can’t remember which episode you talked about United aiming for mediocrity, and how that was not necessarily bad.
My opinion is a little different in regard to United (or any airline for that matter) with aiming for mediocrity. That is problematic for 2 main reasons. The first, and most relevant is that in a market with plenty of competition, that will naturally regulate a “mediocre” company and it will shrink until it is the correct size. However, competition is extremely limited for airlines (and they have been called regional monopolies in the past). In this case, they are insulated from normal market pressures and from market penalties to mediocre product. So unless consumers can realistically punish an airline for a poor/mediocre product, then it does matter if an airline is broadly mediocre. So, some cities are able to respond well and have lots of competition (you know these hubs better than me) but a whole lot of the country is dominated by one carrier or another. The second reason is that aiming for mediocrity is no guarantee of achieving mediocrity. So a company always needs to aim for as high a mark as possible. Anyway, end rant from me on that.
I would love if you all could talk which airports have lots of competition vs those that don’t and if one experience is better/worse. Maybe I will be surprised by what you think.
Anyway’s, keep up the good work!
Also, did Stephan take Lufthansa FC vs Delta Two to get home?
Travis