By 
To AirNZ's credit they have launched their regional survey.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NWHJMJ7
I think that most of us are very proud of Air New Zealand. It's an admired company for almost all New Zealanders. We want to support it.
But I disagree strongly with the approach of a upfront fee, to get a discount. The survey tests a few different combinations of this approach. I feel that a percentage discount is meaningless as I have no idea what the real fares are.
It's all about planned price certainty so that we can make decisions on where we live and work. For a commuter, the magic price is $99 exclusive of GST. At that level I think people would fly. No brainer. At that level people choose to live and work from the Bay. I'd buy 50 a year, up front in cash. The variable is what are the booking rules to enable that price point.
For a business to look at selling out of region, maybe they want to schedule a regular monthly trip. Maybe it's $149 and they buy 20. That allows businesses to budget for travel costs and make the big a decision to address a market out of region.
I therefore think the proposed pricing approach is wrong. Discounts are meaningless as they don't provide budgeting certainty.
What do others think?
15:49, 01.07.2010
I agree with Rod, this approach from AirNZ is not the right one. AirNZ will still have the ability to charge overly excessive pricing on the times business travellers like to travel and they will easily be able to manipulate the pricing so that really they loose nothing and gain more.
Also a scheme like this favours far more frequent travellers than those who travel slightly less frequently which I guess maybe fair enough from a loyalty perceptive but I think a consistent across the board approach will be far more appealing and have far better uptake and success.
I am in favour of a far more transparent scheme and that is fair and consistent for everyone.
12:54, 02.07.2010
Have to agree with you Marcus. Benefit return proposed is based on volumes, but yes, unfair for the punter who might only travel half doz times a year. Forget the cute marketing gimmicks and simply realign all regional prices. When I first started commuting just under 5 years ago I was averaging $180 return to Wgtn – I’d be lucky if I got a return for under $300 bucks now. Has the cost of running regional sectors increased by 167% in under 5 years – yeah right!
17:25, 04.07.2010
Volumes aside (Air NZ has to be assured of some return for their discount), the hazy percentage idea is not good enough, name a figure or get lost.