I’ve addressed this in passing, but I figured I might as well address this head on, since it’s something I feel strongly about — there’s no such thing as a “free” flight (well, unless you’re Marilyn Hartman). On a plane you paid for whatever cabin you’re flying in, whether you’re on a revenue ticket, award ticket, upgrade, or taking advantage of flight benefits.
Let me provide some context. I recently wrote about my Etihad flight from Abu Dhabi to New York in first class where they ran out of food. That was actually the lesser of the two issues I had with the flight — the bigger issue was with Abu Dhabi’s horrible US pre-clearance facility.
I have my fair share of trolls on this blog — I take it as a compliment that they dislike me enough to keep coming back — but sometimes they make points that are so ridiculous that they’re actually worth sharing. And in this case the reason I’m sharing them isn’t to actually point out the ridiculousness of them, but rather to address what they’re trying to get at it in theory (which is easier to respond to when they make it amusing).
The first comment is by Hungry, and was left on my post about Etihad Airways running out of food in first class:
And then s/he leaves a follow up comment, which in part reads as follows:
Purely from an entertainment standpoint I like the comment left by Ben on my post about Etihad’s US pre-clearance facility even more:
I don’t think I’ve ever been called a “practicing” anything before. Then again, today he left the following comment on my post about Southwest’s livery:
That after I specifically said the following:
Ben, is there something you need to share with us? 😉
Didn’t pay for full fare first class? No food for you! 😉
More seriously, to the people that are convinced only certain people are entitled to the advertised services of a cabin, where do you draw the line?
Paid first class from Doha to London
Paid first class from Cairo to Doha to London
I’m curious, which of the above fares come with food and the right to complain?
For me it’s very simple — airlines are free to publish who gets certain benefits however they’d like. For example, some airlines offer chauffeur service on all business class tickets, while others (like Virgin Atlantic) only offer chauffeur service on full fare business class tickets. That’s totally fine, because there’s no mystery involved there.
Similarly, airlines can prioritize onboard services however they’d like. On Emirates they’re free to prioritize shower appointments or meal orders by status (especially on a flight like Dubai to Kuwait City, where showers are in short supply).
But to argue that you shouldn’t expect a second meal on a flight because you booked an award ticket (when you get a minimum of two meals in economy) is preposterous.
To the geniuses that disagree with me, let me ask you this about the so called “profit losing award tickets.” If airlines release award space to partner airlines and it’s “profit losing,” why do they do it?
They’re under no obligation to do so. Lufthansa doesn’t release first class award space to partner airlines more than 15 days out, and Swiss doesn’t release any first class award space unless you’re at least a Senator member in their Miles & More program. All airlines have the right to make a subset of award space available to partner airlines.
If you think you know more than the revenue and inventory management departments at airlines, that’s great, and that’s within your rights. But at the end of the day the airlines choose what to charge, what award space to make available, when to offer upgrades, what benefits to offer their employees, and how to run their programs.
And even Lufthansa doesn’t have to release first class award space within 15 days of departure. They’re well within their rights not to. Care to guess why they do? Yes, because they actually make money from it!
And let me actually counter the above argument about a “profit losing award ticket.” I booked my Etihad first class award ticket hours before departure in a completely empty first class cabin. There was virtually zero opportunity cost to carrying me. Anything they got paid by American was pure profit. That’s not true of a passenger that booked 11 months out and paid for first class with a corporate contract, for example. It’s possible that seat could have been sold for more later on, in which case that seat was actually potentially “profit losing.”
My point is this — airlines have created ridiculously complex systems for booking tickets. They’ve done so by design, because it keeps them in “control” of things. It allows them to discriminate between customers easily, in hopes of maximizing revenue with each individual passenger.
As far as I’m concerned, once everyone is aboard they’re all entitled to the advertised benefits of that class of service, regardless of how they booked. That even includes staff travel — at the end of the day travel benefits are written into airline employee contracts, and is part of their overall compensation structure. In other words, if pilots at certain airlines didn’t get space available first or business class travel, they may well look for other benefits in their contract. They’re paying for it, even if it’s not necessarily “direct.” It’s no different than an executive having a company car, personal driver, etc.
Do you agree or disagree? If you disagree, who’s actually “entitled” to the benefits offered by a class of service? Only passengers that booked the absolute full fare for that class of service?