UCLA students who fly to and from their hometowns are hoping
that airlines will continue to lower prices in what is now being
called a price war in the industry.
Students who plan on traveling by plane, whether within the
state or outside, have a wide variety of airline carriers to choose
from, and competition within the industry may benefit them.
Recently, Delta Airlines slashed prices, and soon after, other
legacy airlines ““ the largest airlines in the business
““ followed suit.
“The airfare wars are really nothing new,” said
Dominique Hanssens, professor of management at the UCLA Anderson
School of Management. “Airfares go down in order to attract
more passengers because there is nothing else for airlines to do to
differentiate themselves.”
This issue of differentiation is key and is what allows students
to find cheap tickets. Airlines need to create as much revenue as
possible from each seat to sustain their business, especially after
the Christmas season, Hanssens said.
As a result, legacy airlines are slashing their prices to
attract fliers and hopefully simultaneously drive out other
airlines.
American Airlines set itself apart when it eliminated Saturday
night-stay requirements for its lowest prices, losing a lot of
money from business flyers who would have paid top dollar
otherwise.
For those flying within the western United States, Southwest
Airlines has been setting itself apart, UCLA students say.
“They’re always on time, cheap and reliable,”
said Arnab Pal, a second-year women’s studies student.
“I think Southwest is the cheapest, and so I always fly
with them,” said Paria Rajai, a second-year international
development studies student.
Among the benefits Southwest offers is that “they tend to
fly to airports that other airlines don’t fly to, such as
Burbank Airport and San Jose airport. They don’t have to
participate in price wars,” Hanssens added. Southwest can
afford to fly out of more airports than other companies.
In addition, Southwest Airlines has always had discounted fares
due to its method of allocating a certain number of seats for low
fares and then selling the remaining ones at continuously higher
prices as the cheaper ones sell out, a method that encourages
shoppers to buy ahead of time.
“I fly with Southwest because they seem to have the most
airports to choose from, along with the cheapest prices,”
said Renee Bell, a first-year undeclared student.
Jet Blue, Northwest Airlines, Delta Airlines and US Airways do
not fly from LAX to her destination ““ Oakland Airport ““
due to more limited resources.
American and United Airlines do, but the choices of flights and
times are much more limited, according to their Web sites.
“The price wars will continue as airline companies merge
and disappear,” Hanssens said.