Vergelijking Delta, American en United

[Gast]

Interessant verhaal over de overeenkomsten (en verschillen) tussen American, Delta, en United:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-the-big ... 1470850460

[Big_Mo]

Helaas niet te lezen als je geen account met WJS hebt

[Gast]

Ja, ik zie het nu ook.

Ik kreeg die link via de Apple News app op mijn iPhone, daar werkt het wel (en ik ben geen subscriber van WSJ).

[Anonymous123]

Doe anders even "Copy Paste", dan kunnen we meelezen

[Gast]

Ok, komt-ie:

The Middle Seat
American, Delta and United increasingly mirror each other in amenities, but also in passenger fees and seat squeeze
The seats, legroom and snacks are roughly the same. Frequent-flier programs change in lockstep. One strips basics like advance seat assignments from its cheapest fares and the others say, me too. They all outfit their planes with blue and gray interiors.
The big three U.S. airlines—American, Delta and United—match each other more closely than ever. The three were created from the merger of six large airlines over the past eight years and now each has the profits to spend upgrading its product. They’re all intent on not letting one rival gain a cost or product advantage.
When United announced it would begin flying lie-flat beds on cross-country routes such as New York-Los Angeles, Delta and American also switched to lie-flat beds in premium cabins. When Delta was first with luxury-car rides across the tarmac for top customers at major hub airports, the other two found luxury cars, too. Fees for good seats? Check. Start charging higher ticket-change fees? All three went up to $200 on domestic trips.
Many of the matching moves benefit fliers. Airlines hustled to add Wi-Fi to planes to keep up with rivals, and have made things like in-seat power plugs more available. But a lot of the replication works against travelers when airlines mirror ways to squeeze passengers together, cut service and add fees.
“The big three airlines have dissolved into one big homogeneous blob,” says industry analyst Henry Harteveldt, founder of Atmosphere Research Group, a travel-industry survey and consulting firm. “In the 1980s and 1990s people said airlines were all alike. They were less all alike then than they are now.”
Open-skies treaties have allowed the big three to build global-flight networks so none has any big geographic advantage. Alliances with foreign airlines have driven standardization as well. At home, consolidation has let them build bigger operations in major cities like New York and Los Angeles. The three are the biggest airlines in the world, leading in passenger traffic, revenue and profits.
With size has come sameness. Airline consultant Jay Sorensen, who specializes in loyalty and marketing programs, says there is no flair among big airlines anymore and mediocrity is what most passengers get.
“Follow the leader is such a boring game,’’ he says. “I think we have seen a continual decline in uniqueness since deregulation [in 1978], when personality was in full force.”
Routehappy, which scores airline flights and amenities for ticket-selling websites, finds that overall Delta has a slight advantage over United and American, Chief Executive Robert Albert says. But plane-by-plane, the differences are small. On the Boeing 757, United’s and Delta’s versions currently score slightly higher than American’s while on the Boeing 737, Delta and American beat United.
Airlines say the similarities just mean they are all coming to the same conclusions about what customers are willing to pay for and what they aren’t. “The market dictates what your product will look like,’’ says Brian Znotins, United’s vice president of network.
American decided not to add seat-back entertainment screens to domestic planes because the systems add cost and many passengers prefer their own devices. But when Delta began adding screens to all its planes, American felt compelled to do the same, American chief executive Doug Parker has said.
They have all added annual spending requirements for elite-status qualification. For the lowest elite level on United and Delta, it is $3,000. American plans to match that starting next year.
When Delta switched the way customers earn frequent-flier miles to a formula based on ticket price instead of distance flown, United quickly copied. American switched Aug. 1, employing the same formula as Delta and United.
The frequent-flier changes have rewarded high-dollar business travelers with a windfall of frequent-flier miles. One $7,000 business-class international trip for someone with top-level elite status can earn 77,000 miles—enough miles to get three domestic coach tickets. But the majority of customers lose. A coach passenger with no elite status flying 10,000 miles round-trip might pay $1,300 and earn only 6,500 miles.
Delta announced a new fare class called Basic Economy that offers low fares but no advance seat assignments, no changes and reduced elite-level frequent-flier privileges. American and United say they will match by the end of this year.
“I feel like it’s a race to the bottom. One airline says we can give passengers less by doing X and others say, that’s a great idea,” says frequent traveler Dave Grossman, founder and chief executive of a New York-based medical-technology company who has flown all three of the airlines this year. “It doesn’t seem like any of them wants to stand out in a meaningful way.”
The airlines say important distinctions remain. Delta says it is trying to chart its own course and has led many of the upgrades of the past several years. The company decided in June to make its seat back entertainment free; American announced this week that it will do the same. Delta arranged business-class seats on international widebody flights so every seat has aisle access. The others are following.
Some Delta changes so far haven’t been matched. Delta’s extra-legroom coach seats come with perks American and United don’t offer, such as free alcohol and premium snacks. Delta has also led in operational reliability, making a big push to dramatically reduce cancellations, boost on-time arrivals and reduce lost luggage. Over the 12 months ending in May, the most recent month reported by the Transportation Department, 87.2% of Delta’s mainline flights arrived on-time, compared with 81.7% for American and 80.9% for United. United canceled 1.3% of its flights over that year period and American canceled 1.1%. But Delta canceled only 0.2% of its flights.
Over the past three days as a result of operations-center problems and cascading impact of crews and planes out of place, Delta has canceled about 2,000 flights—roughly the same number it canceled in the 12-month period ending in May.
“Two years ago I would have said there’s no difference, but Delta has become a strong leader,” says Jack Ezon, president of Ovation Vacations, a New York luxury-travel agency.
American and United both say they have their own strengths.
American is adding new planes to its fleet at a much faster pace than either Delta or United. Routehappy says American now has the youngest average fleet age among the big three. “It does differentiate our business plan from our competitors,” said Andrew Nocella, American’s chief marketing officer.
United says its route network has some unique features, such as direct flights from San Francisco into interior cities in China like Chengdu with long-range Boeing 787 jets.
“The aircraft schedule is the most important thing and that is largely the only sustainable competitive advantage you can have in the business,” says United’s Mr. Znotins. “Ultimately everything else can be copied.”
Write to Scott McCartney at Scott.McCartney@wsj.com

[Hansi1959]

In juni met AA van Düsseldorf naar Atlanta gevlogen in een toestel (767-300, zelfde toestel ook terugvlucht) dat zo uit een museum had kunnen komen... geen eigen monitor in de rugleuning van de stoel voor je en de overhead monitors waren van een "om te huilen" kwaliteit... (net als de geluidskwaliteit via de plug in de stoelen).
Ik had dit niet van te voren gechecked want ging er vanuit dat tegenwoordig alle trans atlantische kisten wel voorzien zouden zijn van een eigen monitor en wat "entertainment" opties.... Niet dus
Overigens werd er zelfs een zwart-wit film vertoond. Wist niet dat die buiten de "special theaters" nog vertoond werden..
Dit was de eerste keer dat ik met AA vloog en dat zal niet snel nog eens gebeuren...

[Marcopstal]

Ik denk niet dat dat het normale vliegtuig is op die route. Soms heeft men eens een vervangvliegtuig als de andere in onderhoud is. Je hebt denk ik gewoon pech gehad. Op basis daarvan een maatschappij uit je lijstje schrappen lijkt me niet slim.

[Hansi1959]

Wel erg toevallig dat we dit zelfde toestel dan een week later opnieuw troffen...

[PatrickBeukelman]

American is 1 van de weinige (volgens mij zelfs de enigste) Amerikaanse maatschappij die nog met vliegtuigen vliegt zonder persoonlijk entertaiment systeem. De 757 en 767 zijn vliegtuigen die ze beiden nog veel inzetten voor transatlantische vluchten, maar dus geen eigen scherm hebben. Is dus geen pech, als je vlucht gepland staat met 1 van deze vliegtuigen heb je geen eigen scherm..

United vliegt bijv. ook nog met deze kisten maar zijn wel refitted en hebben een eigen scherm.

[Rudolfje]

Op sites als seatguru kun je checken welke voorzieningen er aan boord zijn. Is ook handig bij het kiezen van een stoel.

[Hansi1959]

Bedankt voor de tip! Seatguru check ik wel altijd voor het reserveren van stoelen maar dat ook zaken als het entertainment systeem vermeld wordt was me niet eerder opgevallen.
Heb even het betreffende vliegtuig opgezocht en de beoordelingen door passagiers zouden niet slechter kunnen zijn. Kleine bloemlezing uit de commentaren;
- This flight is nothing short of awful
- AVOID THIS AIRCRAFT
- It's a real shame that AA still has this type of old 767
- Oldest entertainment ever, on top of that, the screens themselves look old.
- Got a stiff neck from trying to watch a "green" crt movie as old as the plane,so gave up
- The worst trans atlantic flight ever.
- Needed binoculars to watch in flight movie which was same one shown 12 months ago on same journey.
- Holy cow - absolutely the "crapiest" jet I have ever flown on

De boodschap moge duidelijk zijn; stear away!

[Marcopstal]

Is dat een rechtstreekse vlucht van Dusseldorf naar Atlanta ? Ik probeer die te vinden maar dat lukt me niet eens.

[Gast]

Kleine bloemlezing uit de commentaren;
- This flight is nothing short of awful
- AVOID THIS AIRCRAFT
- It's a real shame that AA still has this type of old 767
- Oldest entertainment ever, on top of that, the screens themselves look old.
- Got a stiff neck from trying to watch a "green" crt movie as old as the plane,so gave up
- The worst trans atlantic flight ever.
- Needed binoculars to watch in flight movie which was same one shown 12 months ago on same journey.
- Holy cow - absolutely the "crapiest" jet I have ever flown on

Nou nou, er zijn ook mensen die echt nergens tevreden mee zijn zeg.

[Hansi1959]

Is dat een rechtstreekse vlucht van Dusseldorf naar Atlanta ? Ik probeer die te vinden maar dat lukt me niet eens.

Nee, dat is geen rechtstreekse vlucht. Het is de AA0241 / AA0242 DUS <-> ORD Wij hadden dus nog een binnenlandse vlucht (AA4372 / AA4238)

[Hansi1959]

Kleine bloemlezing uit de commentaren;
- This flight is nothing short of awful
- AVOID THIS AIRCRAFT
- It's a real shame that AA still has this type of old 767
- Oldest entertainment ever, on top of that, the screens themselves look old.
- Got a stiff neck from trying to watch a "green" crt movie as old as the plane,so gave up
- The worst trans atlantic flight ever.
- Needed binoculars to watch in flight movie which was same one shown 12 months ago on same journey.
- Holy cow - absolutely the "crapiest" jet I have ever flown on

Nou nou, er zijn ook mensen die echt nergens tevreden mee zijn zeg.

Ik denk niet dat het een kwestie is van "nergens mee tevreden zijn" maar zwaar teleurgesteld worden door het niet voldoen van de kist aan een redelijk verwachtingspatroon. Je betaald het volle pond en dan verwacht je niet dat er zo beknibbeld wordt op de voorzieningen... Kwestie van al of niet "waar voor je geld krijgen", en dat is in deze kisten zwaar onder de maat (in vergelijking met andere kisten / maatschappijen).