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Passengers are cost AND travel-time/hassle sensitive. It appears Airbus didn't place enough value into the "travel-time/hassle" part. More detail: the Dreamlin

Passengers are cost AND travel-time/hassle sensitive. It appears Airbus didn't place enough value into the "travel-time/hassle" part. More detail: the Dreamliner is 20% more efficient than previous generation planes. This allowed airlines to "break" the major hubs into many quicker/easier direct flights at a price that passengers are willing to pay. Boeing bet increasing value in this manner was superior than Airbus's bet to simply make hubs cheaper to operate.

ghaff 9y ago
>Passengers are cost AND travel-time/hassle sensitive. Especially among business travelers. Many business travelers may still shop on price up to a point but they'll tend to do so given that the flights have the same number of stops.
- bunderbunder 9y ago
  For me, the price needs to be quite a bit lower to justify a layover even on pure financial grounds. I can't back this up with any hard math, but my sense is that time in transit curtails my productivity severely enough that there'd have to be a pretty enormous savings in ticket price to offset the cost of having me spend (say) twice as much time camping out in airport waiting areas and being subject to takeoff/landing laptop embargos.
  - ghaff 9y ago
    I can't really point to a whole lot of productivity when traveling anyway. And, if I'm being honest, I will sometimes take connections to fly preferred (because of programs) airlines on longer flights. But, yeah, it's more time and that many more opportunities to have blown up travel plans that do lose significant chunks of time.
geezerjay 9y ago
Passangers are sensitive to travel time but the constraint is placed firmly on cost, particular on major tourism destinations where airports are already saturated. Furthermore, some international and national air travel networks are in fact organized in a hub and spoke pattern, particularly trans-oceanic flights where demand is high and cost is the main competitive advantage, including business travel. It's easy to claim now that the choice that was made a couple of decades ago was the right or wrong one, just like it's very easy to pick yesterday's lottery numbers, but if the world economy didn't tanked and if Airbus's projects weren't with so many delays then I really doubt Boeing's bet would be so right.
- thaumasiotes 9y ago
  > just like it's very easy to pick yesterday's lottery numbers It can be harder than it appears. Never forget the poor Chinese guy who noticed that the winning lottery numbers were announced before the close of ticket sales, and got thrown in jail for his pains.
hinkley 9y ago
The Dreamliner can also fly about 2x as many miles between servicing (due to more careful logging of wear and tear), which means not only lower costs but also fewer logistical problems about getting the plane back to a maintenance facility before the FAA is breathing down your neck for noncompliance.
- InTheArena 9y ago
  And in general, Twins are just lower maintenance.

ghaff 9y ago

>Passengers are cost AND travel-time/hassle sensitive. Especially among business travelers. Many business travelers may still shop on price up to a point but they'll tend to do so given that the flights have the same number of stops.

bunderbunder 9y ago
For me, the price needs to be quite a bit lower to justify a layover even on pure financial grounds. I can't back this up with any hard math, but my sense is that time in transit curtails my productivity severely enough that there'd have to be a pretty enormous savings in ticket price to offset the cost of having me spend (say) twice as much time camping out in airport waiting areas and being subject to takeoff/landing laptop embargos.
- ghaff 9y ago
  I can't really point to a whole lot of productivity when traveling anyway. And, if I'm being honest, I will sometimes take connections to fly preferred (because of programs) airlines on longer flights. But, yeah, it's more time and that many more opportunities to have blown up travel plans that do lose significant chunks of time.

geezerjay 9y ago

Passangers are sensitive to travel time but the constraint is placed firmly on cost, particular on major tourism destinations where airports are already saturated. Furthermore, some international and national air travel networks are in fact organized in a hub and spoke pattern, particularly trans-oceanic flights where demand is high and cost is the main competitive advantage, including business travel. It's easy to claim now that the choice that was made a couple of decades ago was the right or wrong one, just like it's very easy to pick yesterday's lottery numbers, but if the world economy didn't tanked and if Airbus's projects weren't with so many delays then I really doubt Boeing's bet would be so right.

thaumasiotes 9y ago
> just like it's very easy to pick yesterday's lottery numbers It can be harder than it appears. Never forget the poor Chinese guy who noticed that the winning lottery numbers were announced before the close of ticket sales, and got thrown in jail for his pains.

hinkley 9y ago

The Dreamliner can also fly about 2x as many miles between servicing (due to more careful logging of wear and tear), which means not only lower costs but also fewer logistical problems about getting the plane back to a maintenance facility before the FAA is breathing down your neck for noncompliance.

InTheArena 9y ago
And in general, Twins are just lower maintenance.