It's trivial, but I realise that while I chose flights on price and convenience on my recent trip, the thing I remember most vividly is my feeling of disappointment at the inferior quality of the meals on one of the carriers. Now airline food is not expected to be gourmet quality and readily meets those expectations, but this time I just had the feeling that cost-cutting had prevailed. I wasn't even hungry. But I felt I was being short-changed.
Maybe the airline's executives are too focussed on the price sensitivity that has come with deregulation and the transparency of price-comparison sites, but now when I search those sites I will definitely feel less inclined to click on this carrier's logo. Although everything else about the flight was fine, there is now an airline for which I definitely don't have a preference.
Consequently, the price differential tomorrow will have to be markedly larger than this time last week if they are to get my business.
Value = price + experience and even tiny things can sway that equation.
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