... and maybe trips on the way.
Now here is a turnaround. Instead of being the innovator, Southwest is taking a leaf out of the European LCCs and charging for an ancillary service--namely early boarding.
Southwest's new "Early Bird" check-in product sounds simple enough, but wait ... hold on there pard'ner, not so fast.
Check out the
fine print of the program. Holy Moli, this sounds pretty complicated.
Contrast it with Ryanair's total boarding policy, which fits neatly
into this page. And it includes their denied boarding compensation policy. And it covers international passport requirements.
I have to say, this goes to show that the myth of Southwest as a non-legacy carrier is clearly just that--a myth.
Come on chaps, you can do better than this.
Way too complicated. I thought Southwest is about Luv and KISS. This sure ain't it.
Professor Sabena aka Timothy O'Neill-Dunne is managing partner at T2 Impact. This post is syndicated from Professor Sabena's Blog.
The question is this – are airlines geared to fully leverage ancillary revenues? Can airlines further increase their ancillary revenues? The simple answer is "yes they can" but there are some challenges in fully realizing this revenue. I invite you to read this interesting blog which talks about the challenges that airlines need to address to fully realize the potential of Ancillary Income
http://www.wns.com/Insights/Blogs/tabid/44163/entryid/45/default.aspx