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If most tickets for that airline come from Google then that airline has little incentive to burn Google with its pricing practices.
by verroq 7y ago
If most tickets for that airline come from Google then that airline has little incentive to burn Google with its pricing practices.
- human20190310 7y agoThey definitely have an incentive to take advantage of Google. If an airline regularly drops the price, and Google keeps refunding the price difference out of their own pockets, word will get out. People are going to preferentially book on that airline, knowing that the day before the flight they're going to get a big rebate. That brand loyalty will remain even if Google kicks them off of their platform. Moreover, as more airlines get kicked off, Google is left with a smaller and smaller subset of airlines it is brokering tickets for.
- mlindner 7y agoI have no idea what you're talking about. Why would the airline harm their own profit just to harm Google? There's no incentive to reduce how much they'll make. More so if they know that Google is guaranteeing the price, they can raise the price higher (or not lower it when they would, rather) to keep more of the profit for themselves.
- mav3rick 7y agoThe Google legal and business team must already have deals in place.
- izacus 7y agoBut... why? Google is refunding passengers, not the airlines. The airline already sold an expensive ticket thanks to Google. Why in the world would you attack a business partner that brings you customers in such a strange way?
- sokoloff 7y agoAirlines run on razor thin margins now. If they believe that people in the future will know where they want to fly and will search for tickets wherever tickets are sold (see Southwest) and they can get a bunch of free advertising and sell some expensive tickets by burning Google, I think they'd at least consider doing it.
- listenallyall 7y agoCombined profit margin for all US airlines was a touch above 6% in 2018. But that was still $11.8 billion in profit. https://www.bts.gov/newsroom/2018-annual-and-4th-quarter-us-airline-financial-data https://www.bts.gov/newsroom/2018-annual-and-4th-quarter-us-...