首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Cooperative competition. Competitive cooperation. Confused? Airline alliances have travelers scratching their heads over what’s
Cooperative competition. Competitive cooperation. Confused? Airline alliances have travelers scratching their heads over what’s
admin
2017-06-11
67
问题
Cooperative competition. Competitive cooperation. Confused? Airline alliances have travelers scratching their heads over what’s going on in the skies. Some folks view alliances as a blessing to travelers, offering seamless travel, reduced fares and enhanced frequent-flyer benefits. Others see a conspiracy of big businesses, causing decreased competition, increased fares and fewer choices. Whatever your opinion, there’s no escaping airline alliances; the marketing hype is unrelenting, with each of the two mega-groupings, One world and Star Alliance, promoting itself as the best choice for all travelers. And, even if you turn away from their ads, chances are they will figure in any of your travel plans. By the end of the year, One world and Star Alliance will between them control more than 40% of the traffic in the sky. Some pundits predict that figure will be more like 75% in 10 years.
But why, after years of often ferocious competition, have airlines decided to band together? Let’s just say the timing is mutually convenient. North American airlines, having exhausted all means of earning customer loyalty at home, have been looking for ways to reach out to foreign flyers. Asian carriers are still hurting from the region-wide economic downturn that began two years ago—just when some of the airlines were taking delivery of new aircraft. Alliances also allow carriers to cut costs and increase profits by pooling manpower resources on the ground(rather than each airline maintaining its own ground crew)and code-sharing—the practice of two partners selling tickets and operating only one aircraft.
So alliances are terrific for airlines—but are they good for the passenger? Absolutely, say the airlines; think of the lounges, the joint FFP(frequent flyer programme)benefits, the round-the-world fares, and the global service networks. Then there’s the promise of "seamless" travel: the ability to, say, travel from Singapore to Rome to New York to Rio de Janeiro, all on one ticket, without having to wait hours for connections or worry about your bags. Sounds Utopian? Peter Buecking, Cathay Pacific’s director of sales and marketing, thinks that seamless travel is still evolving. "It’s fair to say that these links are only in their infancy. The key to seamlessness rests in infrastructure and information sharing. We’re working on this. " Henry Ma, spokesperson for Star Alliance in Hong Kong, lists some of the other benefits for consumers: " Global travelers have an easier time making connections and planning their itineraries. " Ma claims alliances also assure passengers consistent service standards.
Critics of alliances say the much-touted benefits to the consumer are mostly pie in the sky that alliances are all about reducing costs for the airlines, rationalizing services and running joint marketing programmes. Jeff Blyskal, associate editor of Consumer Reports magazine, says the promotional ballyhoo over alliances is much ado about nothing. "I don’t see much of a gain for consumers; alliances are just a marketing gimmick. And as far as seamless travel goes, I’ll believe it when I see it. Most airlines can’t even get their own connections under control, let alone coordinate with another airline. "
Blyskal believes alliances will ultimately result in decreased flight choices and increased costs for consumers. Instead of two airlines competing and each operating a flight on the same route at 70% capacity, the allied pair will share the route and run one full flight. Since fewer seats will be available, passengers will be obliged to pay more for tickets.
The truth about alliances and their merits probably lies somewhere between the travel utopia presented by the players and the evil empires portrayed by their critics. And how much they affect you depends on what kind of traveler you are.
Those who’ve already made the elite grade in the FFP of a major airline stand to benefit the most when it joins an alliance: then they enjoy the FFP perks and advantages on any and all of the member carriers. For example, if you’re a Marco Polo Club "gold" member of Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles FFP, you will automatically be treated as a valuable customer by all members of one world, of which Cathay Pacific is a member—even if you’ve never flown with them before.
For those who haven’t made the top grade in any FFP, alliances might be a way of simplifying the earning of frequent flyer miles. For example, I belong to United Airline’s Mileage Plus and generally fly less than 25, 000 miles a year. But I earn miles with every flight I take on Star Alliance member-All Nippon Airways and Thai Airways.
If you fly less than I do, you might be smarter to stay out of the FFP game altogether. Hunt for bargains when booking flights and you might be able to save enough to take that extra trip anyway. The only real benefit infrequent flyers can draw from an alliance is an inexpensive round the world fare.
The bottom line: for all the marketing hype, alliances aren’t all things to all people—but everybody can get some benefit out of them.
Which is the best word to describe air travelers’ reaction to airline alliances?
选项
A、Delight.
B、Indifference.
C、Objection.
D、Puzzlement.
答案
D
解析
本题是细节题。从题干中的关键词airline alliances找到首段的对应句“Airlinealliances have travelers scratching their heads over…reduced fares and enhanced frequent—flyerbenefits.”,表明乘客很困惑,不知道航空公司之间到底发生了什么。故选D。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/KkFO777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
Thetravelerswere_____intosilencebytheSightofadistantmountain.
Byfarthemostcommondifficultyinstudyissimplefailuretogetdowntoregularconcentratedwork.Thisdifficultyismuchg
Byfarthemostcommondifficultyinstudyissimplefailuretogetdowntoregularconcentratedwork.Thisdifficultyismuchg
Theconceptofpersonalchoiceinrelationtohealthbehaviorsisanimportantone.Anestimated90percentofallillnessesmay
Writeacompositionofatleast250wordsbasedonthetitle"CanMoneyBuyHappiness?"WriteitclearlyontheANSWERSHEET.
五年前,如果一个中国大学生打算入伍当兵的话,那可是需要很多勇气的。可今天,越来越多的大学生选择入伍当兵,这可要归功于部队对高级人才的要求,以及鼓励大学生入伍当兵的新政策。24岁的小周是金融专业的毕业生,也是一个将目光转向部队以求发展的年轻人。这个
Ifsustainablecompetitiveadvantagedependsonworkforceskills,Americanfirmshaveaproblem.Humanmanagementisnottradit
Despitedecadesofscientificresearch,nooneyetknowshowmuchdamagehumanactivityisdoingtotheenvironment.Humansare
Ifsustainablecompetitiveadvantagedependsonwork-forceskills,Americanfirmshaveaproblem.Humanresourcemanagementisn
Ondayoneofmyself-proclaimedMonthofGratitude,myfive-year-oldsonwokeup"bored"at5:15a.m.,Ispiedaspeedingti
随机试题
某临床医学专业本科生刚毕业即擅自开设诊所独立行医,依据《中华人民共和国执业医师法》,其行为属于
食物蛋白质的营养互补作用是()
A机电安装公司承包了30000m室外压力管道的安装工程,工期很紧,而且施工期间阴雨较多。项目部为了保证工程质量,把室外压力管道安装分为原材料检验、管架制作安装、管道预制、管道安装、管道焊接、管道试验、管道保温、管道吹扫等工序,按照对整体质量影响的
赵某与黄某2003年1月结婚,2005年10月协议离婚,但在财产分配上发生争议,下列不属于夫妻共同财产的是()。
设f(x)在[0,1]上二阶可导,|f’(x)|≤1(x∈[0,1]),f(0)=f(1),证明:对任意的x∈[0,1],有|f’(x)|≤1/2。
Whatimpactcanmobilephoneshaveontheirusers’health?Manyindividualsareconcernedaboutthesupposedilleffectscaused
"Mirrorworlds"isonlyoneofDavidGelernter’sbigideas.Anotheris"lifestreams"—inessence,vastelectronicdiaries."Every
"MomentofReckoning":U.S.CitiesBurnRecyclablesafterChinaBansImportsA)TheconscientiouscitizensofPhiladelphiacont
A、Shewantedtobuyacar.B、Shewantedtojokewiththebank.C、ThebankisthecheapestplaceinNewYorktoparkhercar.D、S
TheGreatDifficultyofTeenagers’HomeworkForthispart,youareallowed30minutestowriteashortessay.Youshouldstarty
最新回复
(
0
)