Last week at the National Business Travel Association convention in Los Angeles,
NBC's Peter Greenberg moderated a conversation with Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson and Air Canada CEO Montie Brewer. One of the more entertaining exchanges occurred near the end of the session. It included some friendly crossborder jabs as well as a bit of sermonizing from the two carrier chiefs. It went like this:
During the Q&A, a conference attendee took the CEOs to task over why ticket name changes are not permitted. The large audience of travel managers and other NBTA delegates cheered the question.
"Why don't you just buy 2,000 tickets in John Doe's name and switch them whenever you want?" Anderson asked rhetorically. The idea sounded good to the audience--and they let him know that--so Anderson quickly added: "The answer is no!"
After a few moments of settling, Brewer noted, "In Canada, you can." He was referring to Air Canada's bulk-purchase Flight Pass products, and drew applause.
"Move to Canada!" Anderson told the audience. "It's cold, but you can switch your ticket whenever you want!" But when answering seriously, he added, "There is segmentation in the market."
Despite distinguishing Air Canada from Delta, Brewer then backed Anderson's argument: "You keep thinking that you are buying a commodity, and that if you bought that seat, you can do with it whatever you want. But you are not buying a commodity. You are paying a price for access to a seat at a point in time, and that price is set up on the fact that there are restrictions. If you want an unrestricted price, you buy a full-Y and you can name change to your heart's delight."
