I bet more than a few traders looking for an edge are trying to find someone who works at Kayak to tell them how many more clicks there are in “see full flight details” before purchasing a flight there are now.
Thats great. But then when you get to the gate and there is a 737Max sat there waiting for you, do you board? Or do you accept that you won't get a refund and now need to buy another flight and just hope there is one today for an affordable price with a seat not on a 737Max?
Consumers aren't exactly helpless here. The worst-case scenario is the customer is unable to get another flight (for whatever reason) and 'has to' board the 737Max that one time. The customer can then choose not to book with that airline again. I'm already not a fan of AA, and with this news I can happily avoid this situation by simply not flying AA.
Will I always feel this way? We'll see. I'm fine with letting other people be volunteer guinea pigs before I commit to something.
It would be interesting to see how elastic demand is for this factor. I guess it depends on how easy it is to book the same flight with another airline who don't use 737Max vs how much of a discount the airline can get for using them (plus passenger numbers and what proportion care and how effective a rebranding they can run etc).
except at least initial the airlines will probably accommodate the people who don't want to get on the plane because it is a Max. Better a little problem of rebooking, than social media posts that will remind people hey they are forcing you on a death trap.
Whether it is or not, best not bring attention to the fact you might be flying on a Max.
That's fine as long as there is a flight between the same 2 destinations with the same airline in a few hours that doesn't use a 737max.
If not then what?
I can see the 737 being pushed to infrequent routes with minimal competition. If you want to fly from Fairbanks to Springfield, it's the 737 or nothing and you either fly now or wait 4 days for the next flight (or pay 8000usd for a 19h, 4 leg super combo...).
Was thinking similarly. I don't think there's any guarantee you'll get the particular plane model that is scheduled. Maintenance or other factors may mean model X is unavailable, and they substitute model Y instead. You've contracted to get from point A to point B via plane, that's typically it.
I bet more than a few traders looking for an edge are trying to find someone who works at Kayak to tell them how many more clicks there are in “see full flight details” before purchasing a flight there are now.