Another reason to fly yourself

Here ya go, Judah -- let ol' Doug know just how he and the boys on the
top floor are "missing the boat." Maybe there'll be a lucrative VP slot
in it for you.


Douglas M. Steenland
President and Chief Executive Officer
Northwest Airlines, Inc.
7500 Airline Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55450
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Judah wrote:

I had a long conversation with a stewardess on a Northwest flight a while
back. She said they have to compete with the "No-Frills" airlines
who are taking away their market share. I said they would be smarter to
segment the market and let the No-Frills airlines have the low-budget,
no-service, no-room customers, and segment the market so they keep the
mid-range and higher-range customers who would be willing to pay a small
premium for more room and better service. I told her that basically her
airline, by choosing to compete directly against the no-frills airline is
quickly becoming a no-frills airline, and will surely declare bankruptcy.
In the meantime, they have twice as many seats on the plane than they did a
few years ago, and most of them are empty. If they halved the number of
seats on the plane, and charged 50% more, they would be able to include the
same size crew complement, probably fill a few more seats than they had
that day, but earn substantially more money.

The airlines all seem to think the only way to compete is on price. I
can't really complain too much, since I'm benefitting from their poor
marketing skills. But the fact is that there are many ways to compete,
and most of the airlines are just plain missing the boat (excuse the
pun).