Morning everyone! After a couple of weeks off the Barista is revived, refreshed and ready to tackle all things travel. And much of my refreshed state comes from a truly fantastic holiday to Fiji. Which, interestingly enough, started off with a flight experience that has (at least in my mind) led me to believe that Virgin Blue's new boss John Borghetti has the future right where he probably wants it.
As I've said in previous editions of the Cafe, I was struggling to figure out how Virgin's new boss was going to loosen the bear hug on the corporate travel market that Qantas currently enjoys. But thanks to a terrific experience on V Australia (or maybe it was too much Fijian kava) things have started to crystallise in my mind about some things that Virgin Blue can start using to make inroads into the business travel market.
As a first-time flyer on V Australia, I have to admit even though I had heard the advertising and some feedback from others who've travelled on them, I was expecting a more Virgin Blue-like experience. Imagine my pleasant surprise then after boarding the plane that besides a flight attendant crew who all looked younger than my son, there was very little Virgin Blue and a whole lot of something else.
That "something else" was what you just don't seem to get these days on other airlines, and that's a feeling that you're in for a whole new experience. Yes, the colour schemes are from Virgin Atlantic and so is the pop/rock music piped in (which sure beats hearing Qantas' "I Still Call Australia Home" anthem over and over again) but the plane itself just feels more cool, more comfortable, and more unique than anything I've been on lately. The other "something else" was the crew - just as young, laid back and better looking than I am as is the rest of Virgin's staff but they just seemed to adapt their approach to the passengers better than other crews I've travelled with lately.
For example, our flight was to Fiji so obviously it was a holiday-heavy flight. However in Business class, there were several travellers who looked as though they were either coming from or going to a business meeting. As opposed to assuming everyone was off on holiday, the crew in the cabin took the time to not only say hello but also stop and query the nature of the passenger's journey. With Mrs. Barista, Barista Junior and yours truly already in our shorts and sandals it was obvious what our story was, but not so obvious was what the gentleman across the aisle with the Tumi laptop bag and phone glued to his ear was up to. Just saying a quick hello is fairly Virgin Blue or Qantas-like, but a "what will make your trip with us more comfortable?" is what V Australia seems to be about.
Now onto the actual experience on board: with mood lighting, cool colour schemes, big touch-screen TV's with on-demand content available for you right from the moment you sit down until arrival at the other end, and completely lie-flat seats, this biz class product is a real winner. Coupled with excellent food and, of course the requisite sit-down bar, the entire V Australia flying experience was a treat. As their adverts for the SYD-NAN route say, you'll wish the flight was longer. And I certainly did.
However - and this is the "Hey John, listen up!" moment- I was actually more impressed with the Premium Economy product. Not so much as saying its the best long-haul Premium Economy product in the sky, but rather that I believe that this product, installed in the first few rows of Virgin's domestic aircraft, would give Virgin Blue a differentiation in the domestic business class sector rather than the half-hearted attempts at doing so they currently have on board.
The V Australia Premium Economy seat is covered in very comfy, soft leather, has useful (ie- not painful) footrests on the seat in front, has generously-sized on-demand TV screens that, coupled with free on-board Foxtel, would really entertain the biz traveller and make it feel like a more international-type product rather than a rigged-up domestic seat with an extra drinks tray. Throw in a free welcome glass of bubbly in one of V Australia's cool and rather large champagne "schooners" (nothing like a big fat drink after a long day to calm the nerves!) then if I had the chance to fly biz class domestically this way I'd be all over it.
For certain, it will take a lot more than one comfy seat to send the corporate traveller who's drunk on Qantas Frequent Flyer status and points staggering over to Virgin Blue. But I'm sure John's got all those other aspects of engendering corporate loyalty all figured out. It's the actual flying experience on Virgin that I've said before still has a long way to go, but I think by taking a few pages out of their sister long-haul product then DJ could have a flying chance at it.
Showing posts with label Business Class. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Business Class. Show all posts
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
The Sky Try: Singapore Airlines "Sofa" Class
Greetings, everyone. Apologies for last week's unexpected closure of the cafe, but a trip to India with limited Internet connectivity and a limited ability to stay 100% healthy made for a tough task opening the cafe doors last week. I love curries....it's just that sometimes they don't love me back, apparently.
Anyway, let's move on shall we? Onto a long-awaited journey for the Barista in what I used to think was the most ridiculous-looking business class seat in the sky, on board Singapore Airlines. This not-so-new-now product certainly has made waves in the community that travels further up front of the plane, as the advertisements for the product has been exhaustive in the Australian market. Most everyone has seen them: pictures of smiling people curled up in what looked like a sofa-sized piece of furniture, obviously enjoying their experience in what is likely accurately billed as "the world's biggest business class seat."
And that's where I struggled with this product somewhat. Yes, it's big, but is it good?
Certainly the pictures convey the sense of space that you do feel when you get to your seat. Compared to other airlines' products, the width of the seat seems almost ridiculous. And as you sit down and figure out where to put your elbows to read your pre-flight newspaper or book, you realise indeed this sucker is as wide as a soccer goal. And like a soccer goal, it may look easy to score points but the reality is something else altogether.
Let's cut to the chase: as a seat, it's pretty lousy, actually. You can't figure out which side to sit on as it's so wide, there's not a very good recline or foot rest setting, and for a tall fellow like myself if you cross your legs your knee bumps into the shell of the seat in front of you. You can tuck yourself into one corner of the seat and prop your feet up on the built-in "shelves" that are in the back of the seat in front of you as a sort-of ottoman, but that is only comfortable for so long. However as compensation there is an amazingly large screen for movies and TV shows and you can plug your iPod directly into the entertainment system and listen to your own tunes if you want. That's cool.
But when it's time for lights out - then things start to change.
It starts with changing the seat itself. With one flip of a lever, the huge backrest folds over to lay flat and magically the aforementioned shelves become integrated with the back of the seat to form what looks like an acre of space. Flat, flat space. Like the Australian Outback or Great Plains of America, just seemingly uninterrupted great swathes of space. Unreal.
And when you lay down, although your head and your feet end up at an angle across that great open space (your feet are near the window and your head is near the aisle) there is still so much room to toss and turn it's pretty remarkable, actually. Yes, your feet are in sort of a "cave" tucked into the seat shell in front of you, but unlike other "lie-flat" products (this means you Qantas) you actually have room for them.
So on an all-too-short 5 hour, overnight flight from Delhi to Singapore where sleep was THE only thing on my mind - I loved it. On a 10+ hour daytime flight? I might bring some extra sleeping pills....
DISCLAIMER: The Barista appreciates that ANY business class product beats travelling in economy 8 days out of 7. Therefore my review was in the spirit of assisting companies understand the return on investment for those that do spend the money for the well-being and productivity of their employees travelling for business. Everyone OK with that? :-)
Anyway, let's move on shall we? Onto a long-awaited journey for the Barista in what I used to think was the most ridiculous-looking business class seat in the sky, on board Singapore Airlines. This not-so-new-now product certainly has made waves in the community that travels further up front of the plane, as the advertisements for the product has been exhaustive in the Australian market. Most everyone has seen them: pictures of smiling people curled up in what looked like a sofa-sized piece of furniture, obviously enjoying their experience in what is likely accurately billed as "the world's biggest business class seat."
And that's where I struggled with this product somewhat. Yes, it's big, but is it good?
Certainly the pictures convey the sense of space that you do feel when you get to your seat. Compared to other airlines' products, the width of the seat seems almost ridiculous. And as you sit down and figure out where to put your elbows to read your pre-flight newspaper or book, you realise indeed this sucker is as wide as a soccer goal. And like a soccer goal, it may look easy to score points but the reality is something else altogether.
Let's cut to the chase: as a seat, it's pretty lousy, actually. You can't figure out which side to sit on as it's so wide, there's not a very good recline or foot rest setting, and for a tall fellow like myself if you cross your legs your knee bumps into the shell of the seat in front of you. You can tuck yourself into one corner of the seat and prop your feet up on the built-in "shelves" that are in the back of the seat in front of you as a sort-of ottoman, but that is only comfortable for so long. However as compensation there is an amazingly large screen for movies and TV shows and you can plug your iPod directly into the entertainment system and listen to your own tunes if you want. That's cool.
But when it's time for lights out - then things start to change.
It starts with changing the seat itself. With one flip of a lever, the huge backrest folds over to lay flat and magically the aforementioned shelves become integrated with the back of the seat to form what looks like an acre of space. Flat, flat space. Like the Australian Outback or Great Plains of America, just seemingly uninterrupted great swathes of space. Unreal.
And when you lay down, although your head and your feet end up at an angle across that great open space (your feet are near the window and your head is near the aisle) there is still so much room to toss and turn it's pretty remarkable, actually. Yes, your feet are in sort of a "cave" tucked into the seat shell in front of you, but unlike other "lie-flat" products (this means you Qantas) you actually have room for them.
So on an all-too-short 5 hour, overnight flight from Delhi to Singapore where sleep was THE only thing on my mind - I loved it. On a 10+ hour daytime flight? I might bring some extra sleeping pills....
DISCLAIMER: The Barista appreciates that ANY business class product beats travelling in economy 8 days out of 7. Therefore my review was in the spirit of assisting companies understand the return on investment for those that do spend the money for the well-being and productivity of their employees travelling for business. Everyone OK with that? :-)
Thursday, June 3, 2010
The Premium Conundrum Continuum...
Good morning, cafe patrons. I hate to serve up the same brew two weeks in a row, but I can't help but be flummoxed by this back-and-forth going on in the Antipodean market at the moment with regards to first/business class strategies.
In last week's cafe I talked about the new IATA report showing that premium traffic globally seems to be picking up, and the Asia Pacific region in particular is looking fairly healthy. However, during the last few months all we seemed to hear from Qantas, Air New Zealand, BA and a few other airlines was that the days of premium travel were drawing to a close. Or that at least a future much closer to economy class would be the new norm.
Although I'm pretty sure Qantas execs aren't yet frequenting this humble little cafe for their Friday Morning cuppa, I feel a bit vindicated following some of the comments QF leadership has been saying over the past few days. But I'm also a bit confused, to be honest. Which is easy to do, I get up early to open the cafe so sometimes I'm a bit bleary-eyed with all this airline stuff.
At the Australian Tourism Exchange this week in Adelaide, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce and Executive Manager Rob Gurney both made statements about the importance of premium products as they talked about deploying more A380's in the coming months complete with the new first and business class products. In addition, Stephen Thompson who is Qantas' GM of International Sales also stressed the importance of the premium product and the business travel market within Qantas' overall strategy.
So which direction is this going? I think it's safe to say that the A380's coming on line soon will of course have the new first and business (and premium economy, for that matter) products as part of the service as those cabin configurations have been set for a while.
But then in another article this week from Travel Daily Australia, according to travel agent GDS queries the Sydney-Buenos Aires and Sydney-San Francisco services will not get First Class back on those routes until late September - more than three months later than previously planned.
And I've also not yet heard any mention of putting the B747 back onto the SYD-JFK service, so as of early July it will still be a downgraded A330 on that route. Sure, I've flown that half-empty plane from LAX to JFK but I've also experienced every return flight from JFK-LAX as completely full so I would think that Qantas would prefer customers on QF metal rather than on feeder flights via American Airlines.
As I've always said, you couldn't pay me enough to be an airline revenue manager and certainly I'd be lousy at it anyway. However I'm sure whoever's running that department, along with the head of on-board products for Qantas, must be scratching their heads as much as I am as to what the premium strategy for Qantas really is.
EXTRA SHOT FOR THE DAY
Today's extra shot is taking a shot at cranky taxi drivers. Especially ones in Sydney who seem to not want to take passengers from the airport to the Inner West.
A friend of mine claims 5 straight journeys home with drivers who have given him all sorts of grief about waiting at the airport for hours only to get a "short fare." I've had this before as well, but not nearly as much as this gentleman has. And as he actually probably is going a bit further than I do in terms of how far the crow flies, I certainly can't understand why any cabbie has a gripe about "not far enough."
It's not like they have the right to gripe anyway, as the taxi charter clearly states that a passenger has the right to go to pretty much any destination in the Sydney metro area.
Not to mention that how do we know whether the cabbie's fare TO the airport wasn't a nice big fare so he's just annoyed he couldn't double up the success?
To be fair, I have to say that although this has happened to me in Sydney by far the worst city in the world for cabbie grumbling is New York, thanks to the flat fare from JFK to Manhattan. It's not like I set the price guys, so don't take it out on me!
Ah, if only we all could have London Black Cabs...the world's greatest form of public transportation. Clean, very comfy, with a driver who knows exactly where to go and the best way to get there. Happy to pay a premium for that level of service every time...take note, "Silver" Service!
In last week's cafe I talked about the new IATA report showing that premium traffic globally seems to be picking up, and the Asia Pacific region in particular is looking fairly healthy. However, during the last few months all we seemed to hear from Qantas, Air New Zealand, BA and a few other airlines was that the days of premium travel were drawing to a close. Or that at least a future much closer to economy class would be the new norm.
Although I'm pretty sure Qantas execs aren't yet frequenting this humble little cafe for their Friday Morning cuppa, I feel a bit vindicated following some of the comments QF leadership has been saying over the past few days. But I'm also a bit confused, to be honest. Which is easy to do, I get up early to open the cafe so sometimes I'm a bit bleary-eyed with all this airline stuff.
At the Australian Tourism Exchange this week in Adelaide, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce and Executive Manager Rob Gurney both made statements about the importance of premium products as they talked about deploying more A380's in the coming months complete with the new first and business class products. In addition, Stephen Thompson who is Qantas' GM of International Sales also stressed the importance of the premium product and the business travel market within Qantas' overall strategy.
So which direction is this going? I think it's safe to say that the A380's coming on line soon will of course have the new first and business (and premium economy, for that matter) products as part of the service as those cabin configurations have been set for a while.
But then in another article this week from Travel Daily Australia, according to travel agent GDS queries the Sydney-Buenos Aires and Sydney-San Francisco services will not get First Class back on those routes until late September - more than three months later than previously planned.
And I've also not yet heard any mention of putting the B747 back onto the SYD-JFK service, so as of early July it will still be a downgraded A330 on that route. Sure, I've flown that half-empty plane from LAX to JFK but I've also experienced every return flight from JFK-LAX as completely full so I would think that Qantas would prefer customers on QF metal rather than on feeder flights via American Airlines.
As I've always said, you couldn't pay me enough to be an airline revenue manager and certainly I'd be lousy at it anyway. However I'm sure whoever's running that department, along with the head of on-board products for Qantas, must be scratching their heads as much as I am as to what the premium strategy for Qantas really is.
EXTRA SHOT FOR THE DAY
Today's extra shot is taking a shot at cranky taxi drivers. Especially ones in Sydney who seem to not want to take passengers from the airport to the Inner West.
A friend of mine claims 5 straight journeys home with drivers who have given him all sorts of grief about waiting at the airport for hours only to get a "short fare." I've had this before as well, but not nearly as much as this gentleman has. And as he actually probably is going a bit further than I do in terms of how far the crow flies, I certainly can't understand why any cabbie has a gripe about "not far enough."
It's not like they have the right to gripe anyway, as the taxi charter clearly states that a passenger has the right to go to pretty much any destination in the Sydney metro area.
Not to mention that how do we know whether the cabbie's fare TO the airport wasn't a nice big fare so he's just annoyed he couldn't double up the success?
To be fair, I have to say that although this has happened to me in Sydney by far the worst city in the world for cabbie grumbling is New York, thanks to the flat fare from JFK to Manhattan. It's not like I set the price guys, so don't take it out on me!
Ah, if only we all could have London Black Cabs...the world's greatest form of public transportation. Clean, very comfy, with a driver who knows exactly where to go and the best way to get there. Happy to pay a premium for that level of service every time...take note, "Silver" Service!
Thursday, May 27, 2010
I Told You So...Didn't I?
At the risk of saying I told you so to Qantas and other airlines who recently announced they were cutting back on premium products...ah, why bother stating the obvious?
IATA's recently published Premium Traffic Monitor shows that "The number of first and business class airline passengers in March increased 10.8 percent worldwide, marking a fourth consecutive month of growth and the largest year-over-year increase measured for any month in at least two years. As business confidence and world trade have turned up sharply business travelers have returned," IATA said, while noting particularly strong growth in Asia.
Sure, there still are some trouble spots (indeed I am talking about Europe - can you say "Greeced" lightning?) and the Kangaroo route from Australia to the UK is not faring all that well, but for the most part premium demand is up. Way up.
And yes, these numbers are coming off of an abysmal 2 year stretch where no one seemed to be turning left when boarding an aircraft.
But who are we to believe - a few airlines, corporate buyers and travel agencies saying the days of premium travel are dead? Or numbers coming from the association made up of actual airlines themselves which would seem to indicate otherwise?
In previous editions of the Cafe I've lamented what I saw was the too-quick reaction by Qantas and Air New Zealand to start ripping out premium products as they said the demand for them was plummeting. If IATA's numbers are to be believed, the only thing plummeting will be those airlines' profits if they continue to pull back on premium services.
To be fair to Air New Zealand, their trimming of premium products is mainly across the Tasman. Depending on how Trans-Tasman flights are classified by IATA the numbers could be confusing as "Within SW Pacific" shows a negative March '10 vs. '09 but a higher YTD '10 vs. '09; yet "SW Pacific" is showing huge growth of premium traffic - 19.9% growth in March '10 vs. '09 and 26.7% growth year-over-year.
The Barista, is, of course, happy to pour his words in to a double espresso and swallow them quickly if I end up being wrong...but for now I'll stick with the "I told you so" to the airlines who were throwing out the premium passenger with the gently scented bubble bath water. Not sure which airline will offer on-board bubble baths first but I wouldn't put it past a few of them....
(Thanks to IATA: www.iata.org/economics and for the full report go to http://www.iata.org/whatwedo/Documents/economics/Premium-Monitor-Mar10.pdf)
IATA's recently published Premium Traffic Monitor shows that "The number of first and business class airline passengers in March increased 10.8 percent worldwide, marking a fourth consecutive month of growth and the largest year-over-year increase measured for any month in at least two years. As business confidence and world trade have turned up sharply business travelers have returned," IATA said, while noting particularly strong growth in Asia.
Sure, there still are some trouble spots (indeed I am talking about Europe - can you say "Greeced" lightning?) and the Kangaroo route from Australia to the UK is not faring all that well, but for the most part premium demand is up. Way up.
And yes, these numbers are coming off of an abysmal 2 year stretch where no one seemed to be turning left when boarding an aircraft.
But who are we to believe - a few airlines, corporate buyers and travel agencies saying the days of premium travel are dead? Or numbers coming from the association made up of actual airlines themselves which would seem to indicate otherwise?
In previous editions of the Cafe I've lamented what I saw was the too-quick reaction by Qantas and Air New Zealand to start ripping out premium products as they said the demand for them was plummeting. If IATA's numbers are to be believed, the only thing plummeting will be those airlines' profits if they continue to pull back on premium services.
To be fair to Air New Zealand, their trimming of premium products is mainly across the Tasman. Depending on how Trans-Tasman flights are classified by IATA the numbers could be confusing as "Within SW Pacific" shows a negative March '10 vs. '09 but a higher YTD '10 vs. '09; yet "SW Pacific" is showing huge growth of premium traffic - 19.9% growth in March '10 vs. '09 and 26.7% growth year-over-year.
The Barista, is, of course, happy to pour his words in to a double espresso and swallow them quickly if I end up being wrong...but for now I'll stick with the "I told you so" to the airlines who were throwing out the premium passenger with the gently scented bubble bath water. Not sure which airline will offer on-board bubble baths first but I wouldn't put it past a few of them....
(Thanks to IATA: www.iata.org/economics and for the full report go to http://www.iata.org/whatwedo/Documents/economics/Premium-Monitor-Mar10.pdf)
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
The World is Flat
Let's face it - when it comes to travelling on business, it's all about flying IN business.
And when flying in business, Flat rules the world.
If you're lucky enough to be working for a company that still values your time, sanity and overall well-being, then hopefully you're still flying business class and having a good chance of getting some rest on a long flight.
But if you're dealing with a company that thinks that travel is a perk or a necessary evil of doing business, then you may just have to resign yourself to sitting in misery at the back of the bus.
Unless...dare I say it...you're willing to fly a Low Cost Carrier?
Air Asia announced this week that they're now offering flat bed seats in their "premium" section, which will be rolling out on many routes in the coming months. Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur is already showing availability of the lie-flat seats, with some pretty incredible fares. A return fare for later this month came up at only AU$1454 whereas a quick search on Webjet to compare other carriers found the cheapest business class fare was on Emirates and at nearly double the price of Air Asia. A search of Economy fares showed on average about a $400-500 difference. Not altogether a large amount if you need to step right off a flight into a meeting.
Which will all make for interesting debates in corporations who've reacted to the GFC by slashing travel costs at any cost, and traveller comfort and productivity be damned. However many companies will then ask their travel buyers to still negotiate with the same carriers to get better Economy or Premium Economy fares rather than business class. And travellers will likely start revolting if they see they can get a lie-flat seat on a Low-Cost Carrier at a price relatively similar to the Economy Class fare their company likely negotiated with a mainline carrier.
This could be bad news for travel managers trying to maintain a program whilst having unhappy travellers relegated out of premium products. And to make matters worse, the route coverage Air Asia is touting is a pretty good lineup of regional Asia Pacific business destinations: Melbourne, Gold Coast (well, at least for meetings anyway) Perth, Taipei, Kuala Lumpur, Hangzhou, Tianjin, Chengdu, Mumbai and New Delhi. And if you're willing to buy two separate tickets from Melbourne to London-Stansted, you can do that too as KUL-STN will be serviced by the flat beds as well.
So, business travellers may be sleeping better, but perhaps not so much travel managers trying to make sense of all this.
And when flying in business, Flat rules the world.
If you're lucky enough to be working for a company that still values your time, sanity and overall well-being, then hopefully you're still flying business class and having a good chance of getting some rest on a long flight.
But if you're dealing with a company that thinks that travel is a perk or a necessary evil of doing business, then you may just have to resign yourself to sitting in misery at the back of the bus.
Unless...dare I say it...you're willing to fly a Low Cost Carrier?
Air Asia announced this week that they're now offering flat bed seats in their "premium" section, which will be rolling out on many routes in the coming months. Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur is already showing availability of the lie-flat seats, with some pretty incredible fares. A return fare for later this month came up at only AU$1454 whereas a quick search on Webjet to compare other carriers found the cheapest business class fare was on Emirates and at nearly double the price of Air Asia. A search of Economy fares showed on average about a $400-500 difference. Not altogether a large amount if you need to step right off a flight into a meeting.
Which will all make for interesting debates in corporations who've reacted to the GFC by slashing travel costs at any cost, and traveller comfort and productivity be damned. However many companies will then ask their travel buyers to still negotiate with the same carriers to get better Economy or Premium Economy fares rather than business class. And travellers will likely start revolting if they see they can get a lie-flat seat on a Low-Cost Carrier at a price relatively similar to the Economy Class fare their company likely negotiated with a mainline carrier.
This could be bad news for travel managers trying to maintain a program whilst having unhappy travellers relegated out of premium products. And to make matters worse, the route coverage Air Asia is touting is a pretty good lineup of regional Asia Pacific business destinations: Melbourne, Gold Coast (well, at least for meetings anyway) Perth, Taipei, Kuala Lumpur, Hangzhou, Tianjin, Chengdu, Mumbai and New Delhi. And if you're willing to buy two separate tickets from Melbourne to London-Stansted, you can do that too as KUL-STN will be serviced by the flat beds as well.
So, business travellers may be sleeping better, but perhaps not so much travel managers trying to make sense of all this.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Ditching Premium Seats Across the Ditch
Air New Zealand this week announced a new strategy built around a simplified pricing structure for Trans-Tasman fares, complete with a simplified on-board product offering.
Translation: Business Class is out, modified (or perhaps "glorified" is a better word) economy seating is in.
The new 4-tiered product and pricing approach is apparently as follows: the lowest price gives you a seat, a coffee or tea and access to entertainment; next highest price gives you the previous plus checked bags; 3rd highest adds a meal and drinks and the most expensive option features lounge access and a confirmed empty seat next to you. How luxurious.
According to Air New Zealand, they are on average only selling 1 Biz Class seat on any given Trans Tasman flight, so the thinking is that perhaps a 3-ish hour flight is not long enough to justify the higher cost of a Business Class product. So they're going to change their cabins to swap out Biz Class seats for Economy seating, but with the above mentioned flexible configurations and on-board amenities to choose from in order to determine the price for the seat. And, they hope, convince those seeking a more up-market product can be achieved with a standard Economy seat - with "perks."
From a creativity standpoint, I think this is admirable and followng on their announcement a few weeks ago of their Skycouch "lie-flat" long-haul Economy product it reinforces to me that the Kiwi carrier continues to push the creative envelope that Qantas seems to not even want to open. That being said - will this idea really fly?
First challenge: making sure corporate travel managers can figure out what level(s) of this new fare structure and related onboard product fits into their travel policy. Obviously if a company's current Trans Tasman policy is business, which of the 4-tiered product is an appropriate replacement? The 3rd-highest priced option with free drinks and a meal, or the most expensive option which provides those features plus lounge access and a blocked adjacent seat? Believe it or not, some companies still have an "International Flight = Business Class" policy which now will have to be re-thought should that company fly Air New Zealand. Or perhaps this may backfire and Air New Zealand customers my decide just to switch rather than deal with re-working their policy. Interesting...any corporate travel managers out there in the Cafe' care to comment?
Next Challenge: Convincing road warriors that this is a "premium" product. Yes, AKL-SYD isn't exactly the Kangaroo Route, but there are indeed plenty of business travellers who think that having to carry their passport (at least for now - soon NZ and Australia will eliminate that hassle of immigration...yeah!) means they're entitled to a Business Class seat. To most of them, the size of the seat is more important than whether the one next to you is empty, and especially if there's no incremental legroom in the new product then I'd predict this approach will fall flat with Business Travellers used to bigger seats.
Last Challenge: avoiding nose removal for facial spite. This move by Air New Zealand, although at the moment seems prudent due to GFC hangovers and a continued challenging operating environment, adds to the trend of carriers pulling out of premium products citing what they see as an irreversible trend in premium traffic. Qantas and BA both recently have stated they are changing aircraft product offerings as they don't see a near-term recovery in corporate premium purchasing. However, this could be short-sighted, as several corporate travel managers and a TMC leaders have commented to me lately that since the start of 2010, carriers that feature premium products prominently (try saying that 5 times quickly) like Singapore, Emirates, Etihad and Virgin Atlantic are enjoying quite full Biz Class cabins and in fact getting seats on top routes require booking a month in advance. Perhaps this is perception rather than reality as the airlines' recent financial reports do seem to be quite glum. But let's not write off premium traffic just yet, as my recent travels have seen full cabins, business people anxious to get out on the road, and a First Class lounge at LAX which had to ask people to remove their bags from seats in order to fit all the people in. No lack of premium demand there...
Translation: Business Class is out, modified (or perhaps "glorified" is a better word) economy seating is in.
The new 4-tiered product and pricing approach is apparently as follows: the lowest price gives you a seat, a coffee or tea and access to entertainment; next highest price gives you the previous plus checked bags; 3rd highest adds a meal and drinks and the most expensive option features lounge access and a confirmed empty seat next to you. How luxurious.
According to Air New Zealand, they are on average only selling 1 Biz Class seat on any given Trans Tasman flight, so the thinking is that perhaps a 3-ish hour flight is not long enough to justify the higher cost of a Business Class product. So they're going to change their cabins to swap out Biz Class seats for Economy seating, but with the above mentioned flexible configurations and on-board amenities to choose from in order to determine the price for the seat. And, they hope, convince those seeking a more up-market product can be achieved with a standard Economy seat - with "perks."
From a creativity standpoint, I think this is admirable and followng on their announcement a few weeks ago of their Skycouch "lie-flat" long-haul Economy product it reinforces to me that the Kiwi carrier continues to push the creative envelope that Qantas seems to not even want to open. That being said - will this idea really fly?
First challenge: making sure corporate travel managers can figure out what level(s) of this new fare structure and related onboard product fits into their travel policy. Obviously if a company's current Trans Tasman policy is business, which of the 4-tiered product is an appropriate replacement? The 3rd-highest priced option with free drinks and a meal, or the most expensive option which provides those features plus lounge access and a blocked adjacent seat? Believe it or not, some companies still have an "International Flight = Business Class" policy which now will have to be re-thought should that company fly Air New Zealand. Or perhaps this may backfire and Air New Zealand customers my decide just to switch rather than deal with re-working their policy. Interesting...any corporate travel managers out there in the Cafe' care to comment?
Next Challenge: Convincing road warriors that this is a "premium" product. Yes, AKL-SYD isn't exactly the Kangaroo Route, but there are indeed plenty of business travellers who think that having to carry their passport (at least for now - soon NZ and Australia will eliminate that hassle of immigration...yeah!) means they're entitled to a Business Class seat. To most of them, the size of the seat is more important than whether the one next to you is empty, and especially if there's no incremental legroom in the new product then I'd predict this approach will fall flat with Business Travellers used to bigger seats.
Last Challenge: avoiding nose removal for facial spite. This move by Air New Zealand, although at the moment seems prudent due to GFC hangovers and a continued challenging operating environment, adds to the trend of carriers pulling out of premium products citing what they see as an irreversible trend in premium traffic. Qantas and BA both recently have stated they are changing aircraft product offerings as they don't see a near-term recovery in corporate premium purchasing. However, this could be short-sighted, as several corporate travel managers and a TMC leaders have commented to me lately that since the start of 2010, carriers that feature premium products prominently (try saying that 5 times quickly) like Singapore, Emirates, Etihad and Virgin Atlantic are enjoying quite full Biz Class cabins and in fact getting seats on top routes require booking a month in advance. Perhaps this is perception rather than reality as the airlines' recent financial reports do seem to be quite glum. But let's not write off premium traffic just yet, as my recent travels have seen full cabins, business people anxious to get out on the road, and a First Class lounge at LAX which had to ask people to remove their bags from seats in order to fit all the people in. No lack of premium demand there...
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