Advantages of luxury seating

[auerbacs]

Quick question:

Is it economical to have luxury economy, business or first seats? Obviously it cuts down on capacity. I understand that my customers will be happy and the company image would go up, but would it also have direct impact on the prices that I could charge. In other words, if my company and route image were already at 100 (they're not, but hypothetically speaking), would it be sensible to run luxury seating? Would I be able to charge more, or would the only effect be increased image which was already maxed out anyway?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[ICEcoldair881]

I think that if you're already a dominant player in a country, you should just stick with what seat type and prices you have. your company image is too high and you've been around long enough that people know your airline for the lower prices and your CI will fall because of it. If you want to use a luxury seating, charge only a little more and do the whole "more for less" thing.

Cheers,
ICEcold

ps. i know from experience. I tried this once and I epically failed that airline. don't bother with it, unless you do the "more for less" thing as stated above.

[Sigma]

No, it's not economical to do it.

It used to be in the game that it was always the superior option to choose "High Density", that was fixed.  But there's still little reason to go with the super-wide spacing.  In theory, there's a customer preference built into the formula, and there very well may be, but the preference isn't worth what you give up on the seat count.

And, regardless, you can't charge an appreciably higher price.  Prices are set by the route, and customers are FAR more price-sensitive than they are accommodation-sensitive in the game (with the exception of high-density seating which they are very sensitive to in travelling over a few hundred miles)

[auerbacs]

Thanks guys. I had a feeling that that was the case!

[EYguy]

I do not know how exactly the demand model works but... I think that if you offer a more comfy seat for the same price, the pax should/would choose the more comfortable seat... And, of course, some routes show a demand for business and first class seats and their yield is much higher than the economy seats one.

[fauzi]

I think it'll just increase your Route Image over time

[Maarten Otto]

This is exactly why every seat config should have its own fare structure. Like 3 different fares for Y class. Where the most spaciouse economy seat should be charged at fares 20% above the recommanded retail price (rrp). The game has to support this new seat/fare structure. Same
goes up for business and first class.

[hybridace101]

No, it's not economical to do it.

It used to be in the game that it was always the superior option to choose "High Density", that was fixed.  But there's still little reason to go with the super-wide spacing.  In theory, there's a customer preference built into the formula, and there very well may be, but the preference isn't worth what you give up on the seat count.

And, regardless, you can't charge an appreciably higher price.  Prices are set by the route, and customers are FAR more price-sensitive than they are accommodation-sensitive in the game (with the exception of high-density seating which they are very sensitive to in travelling over a few hundred miles)

So it goes like this: passengers won't give you much credit for improving the quality of the seats (making them more positive) as much as they will give you blame for making the quality worse?