We all know that flying isn’t what it used to be. Under pressure from increased competition, especially from budget carriers, all airlines are making cuts.
We’ve all got used to narrower seats, paying for meals, drinks and luggage, and generally being made to feel less special when we fly. But has enough finally become enough?
According to this report, a decision by Qantas to eliminate the music channels from its domestic services in Australia (but not its international services) hasn’t gone down terribly well.
Qantas said the decision was driven by that fact that fewer than 10 per cent of its customers use the service. I suppose that’s a reasonable argument — although I’ve never seen anybody at all use the emergency exit, but I’m still glad it’s there.
Seriously, though, the reality is that those of us who like to listen to music on the go already carry our music around with us, either physically on our phone or other device, or through a subscription to a streaming service such as Spotify.
It does make me wonder, though, how far the gap between “full service” and “no frills” airlines will narrow.
Much of the pleasure of flying with a carrier such as Qantas comes with the small touches that the others don’t provide.
As all business know, if you remove your point of difference, you risk losing some of your loyal customers.
