# Why do airline ads target the minority of rich travellers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 14, 2013, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-airline-ads-target-the-minority-of-rich-travellers/668839 "2013-09-14T11:17:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-airline-ads-target-the-minority-of-rich-travellers/668839/41 "2013-09-17T22:36:41Z")
> [@Doughbag](#): > > Ryanair is famous for putting a charge on everything… they are not far away from paying to use the toilet. That’s a mess waiting to happen. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-airline-ads-target-the-minority-of-rich-travellers/668839/42 "2013-09-17T23:06:42Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Well, I believe that Ryanair was explicitly modeled on SWA, so Southwest has sort of come to Europe. (Although from what I’ve heard, Ryanair is even more aggressive than Southwest about lowering costs and exploiting sources of revenue.) These days a better US parallel is Spirit Airlines, which is sort of like Ryanair come to the US. Fees for everything, free nothing, minimalist service, nonreclining seats with the tightest pitch, the works. Very often bandied about on travel boards and blogs as the object of contempt and derision. But, really cheap base fares and they don’t seem to be wanting for customers in their class. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-airline-ads-target-the-minority-of-rich-travellers/668839/43 "2013-09-17T23:40:44Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Well, I believe that Ryanair was explicitly modeled on SWA, so Southwest has sort of come to Europe. (Although from what I’ve heard, Ryanair is even more aggressive than Southwest about lowering costs and exploiting sources of revenue.) My daughter flew on RyanAir when in college in Europe. My impression is that they are very little like SWA. SWA lowers costs by standardization - all 737s. No code sharing. But the only extra cost thing is $12 for priority boarding, and even that is for an entire one way trip, not for each leg. Their fare structure is about as rational as I’ve seen. It is fairly simple to change flights - it didn’t used to cost anything. When they started they were low cost by not providing meals and other such amenities. Now no one does, so that differentiator is gone. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-airline-ads-target-the-minority-of-rich-travellers/668839/44 "2013-09-18T00:39:53Z")
I fly SWA regularly (at least once a month), they are by far my favorite airline with the absolute best customer service, friendliest flight attendants, etc. I would choose them even if they were 10-20% more than the next cheapest airline. The fact that they are often the cheapest and also you get your 2 bags checked for free is simply gravy. They are about the exact opposite of RyanAir as you can get, from what I’ve heard about RyanAir! ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-airline-ads-target-the-minority-of-rich-travellers/668839/45 "2013-09-18T00:50:15Z")
I didn’t say that Ryanair was _like_ Southwest.but that it was modeled on it. I believe Ryanair only operates Boeing 737s, as does Southwest and they also seem to have copied SWA’s model of flying to lower-cost secondary airports. Another part of SWA’s model is very fast turnaround at the gates, so that its planes are in the air for a greater part of the day than other airlines, and most of SWA’s flights are short hops. ---
**Author:** ![Doughbag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Doughbag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doughbag)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-airline-ads-target-the-minority-of-rich-travellers/668839/46 "2013-09-18T12:57:09Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > Go to the Flyertalk forums and you’ll see a LOT of Europeans who collect frequent flyer miles, and make travel decisions based on them. But those people are (for the most part) really frequent flyers for whom collecting the miles pays off big. Typically they fly 50,000 or more miles a year. Sure, there are people using it. There are 500million people in the [EU](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union)alone. However, flying with an airline that has a FF, does not mean, that people are collection or using a FF scheme. Even of the ones using it, [40% are never using it.](http://www.businessinsider.com/study-finds-40-percent-of-fliers-never-use-miles-2013-5) It’s a marketing gimmick, mainly geared to US customers. It seems common there, but that is the US not Europe. The airlines offering FF are global airlines, Ryanair and Easyjet do for the most part only cater for the Europeen market. > [@Ravenman](#): > > If you can’t provide a cite, we have moved out of the factual realm of answering questions. > > To the contrary, the reasons why people choose to buy tickets on particular airlines, and how loyal they are to airlines, is continually researched to death. [Example.](http://elliott.org/blog/what-do-airline-passengers-really-want-besides-a-good-fare/) There’s no evidence of people choosing airlines based on self-esteem. You can even go to forums like Flyertalk where people endlessly nitpick the pros and cons of every airline, and I will bet you won’t find anyone saying that they are loyal to an airlines because of how it makes them feel about themselves. > > The reason people grimace when you talk about Ryanair is because they are frequently mentioned as one of the least-liked airlines in the world: [one,](http://www.businessinsider.com/worst-airlines-in-the-world-2010-12?op=1) [two,](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/9756624/Ryanair-voted-worst-short-haul-airline.html) [three,](http://www.flights.co.uk/articles/ba-is-best-and-ryanair-is-worst.html) [four.](http://www.theguardian.com/business/2006/oct/26/theairlineindustry.lifeandhealth) You’d probably get the same reaction if you said you took your spouse out to a dinner at a reviled restaurant. > > Eight of the ten European airlines with the most passengers have frequent flier programs. The exceptions are Ryanair and Easyjet. So out of the half a billion passengers carried by those ten airlines in 2012, almost 400 million of them flew on airlines with FF programs. I’d say that is common. I already said, that I can provide cites for people hating budget airlines ([Cite](http://www.ihateryanair.org/)), if the hate is reasonable or not is another story. C[ite](http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-advisor/opinion-why-we-should-stop-complaining-about-budget-airlines/story-fn6yjmoc-1226600586212)/[Cite](http://www.lonelyplanet.com/australia/travel-tips-and-articles/76919). Some of it is like complaining that the bus you take to work is not providing the same service as limo with a chauffeur. Ok, this “making feel better about themselves” might be the wrong choice of words, I’ll give you that. However, I never said, that it boosts their self-esteem – that is your interpretation of what I wrote. It’s more like a show off thing, to make them look better in front of others, snobbery if you like. It heightens their social status within their peers. Flying budget is beneath them. Using a non-budget airline just has more flair. Sure, flying Budget is not as gratifying – it’s cheaper. If you are using a cheaper product, you cannot show it of as much as a premium product, same for airlines – and that is important for some people. That’s why airlines spend so much on advertising, show you first class service to sell you an economy ticket. Sure, using a higher valued airline provides in most cases a better service experience than a budget airline, but I’m not trying to argue that. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-airline-ads-target-the-minority-of-rich-travellers/668839/47 "2013-09-18T13:59:10Z")
> [@Doughbag](#): > > Ok, this “making feel better about themselves” might be the wrong choice of words, I’ll give you that. However, I never said, that it boosts their self-esteem – that is your interpretation of what I wrote. You say it makes them feel superior, I said it boosts their self-esteem. This is really splitting hairs. > [@](#): > > It’s more like a show off thing, to make them look better in front of others, snobbery if you like. It heightens their social status within their peers. Flying budget is beneath them. Using a non-budget airline just has more flair. Sure, flying Budget is not as gratifying – it’s cheaper. > If you are using a cheaper product, you cannot show it of as much as a premium product, same for airlines – and that is important for some people. You have no cites for this claim, it is not credible on its face because I have never heard not can I find any article discussing this allegation, and there’s plenty of evidence that shows why people choose the airlines they do. The only conclusion left is that you have an axe to grind with people who don’t like bargain airlines, which is a description of your views and predispositions, not an accurate reflection of those people’s buying habits. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-airline-ads-target-the-minority-of-rich-travellers/668839/48 "2013-09-18T17:13:47Z")
> [@Doughbag](#): > > Sure, there are people using it. There are 500million people in the [EU](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union)alone. However, flying with an airline that has a FF, does not mean, that people are collection or using a FF scheme. > Even of the ones using it, [40% are never using it.](http://www.businessinsider.com/study-finds-40-percent-of-fliers-never-use-miles-2013-5) It’s a marketing gimmick, mainly geared to US customers. It seems common there, but that is the US not Europe. The airlines offering FF are global airlines, Ryanair and Easyjet do for the most part only cater for the Europeen market. There are a lot of Europeans who travel globally. I agree that FF programs cater mainly to them. But those Europeans do collect and use FF miles. That’s why all the big, global European airlines have FF programs. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-airline-ads-target-the-minority-of-rich-travellers/668839/49 "2013-09-19T18:51:48Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > Airlines are masters of yield management through market segmentation. Not really. Otherwise we wouldn’t see so many bankruptcies within the industry. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-airline-ads-target-the-minority-of-rich-travellers/668839/50 "2013-09-19T20:49:51Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Not really. Otherwise we wouldn’t see so many bankruptcies within the industry. Common fallacy. X is a well/poorly run company because it makes/loses money. (Or in this case practically an entire industry.) Due to a lot of factors a company can make reasonable money despite being run by idiots. Better management would have resulted in _more_ profits. (MS is the most famous current example.) Similarly, in some circumstances, despite being well run, some companies will not succeed. (Your friendly neighborhood video store.) In the airline industry, it’s sort of a game of outlast the other guy. They undercut each other and hope to be the last airline standing, and then make money. And this is what you get. Sure, a company could not play the undercutting game. But it’ll fail first. Slicing up market segments is key to trying to survive as long as possible. ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-airline-ads-target-the-minority-of-rich-travellers/668839/51 "2013-09-20T17:21:46Z")
> [@Doggo](#): > > I’m sick of the airlines making nauseating ads showing grovelling flight staff ( usually incredibly beautiful women ) pandering to people in first and business class, when the majority of people that fly are in cattle ( economy ) class. > Why don’t they try and get economy passengers to fly with them by improving the usually second rate service eg, by allowing economy class passengers to check in via biz and 1st class desks when they are devoid of passengers? I don’t even remember the last time I saw a television ad for an airline, but then again I don’t have cable. Most of the airline ads I see are in magazines and it seems like it’s a mix of luxury and economy based ads. It probably depends on what demographic tends to read that particular publication. I’ve also been checked in by the Priority/1st Class check-in person when the economy line is busy and there are no elite flyers waiting. It probably depends on the person doing the checking-in. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-airline-ads-target-the-minority-of-rich-travellers/668839.md?page=2)