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 travellers scratching their heads over what’s
Cooperative competition. Competitive cooperation. Confused? Airline alliances have travellers scratching their heads over what’s
admin
2013-06-12
41
问题
Cooperative competition. Competitive cooperation. Confused? Airline alliances have travellers scratching their heads over what’s going on in the skies. Some folks view alliances as a blessing to travellers, 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 travellers 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, Oneworld 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 Janiero, 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 travellers 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 arc 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 traveller 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, 1 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 travellers’ reaction to airline alliances?
选项
A、Delight.
B、Indifference.
C、Objection.
D、Puzzlement.
答案
D
解析
本题问下述哪个词最能表达旅客对航空公司结盟的反响。文章开端的几个句子即能反映出旅客的态度,如Confused?...scratching their heads over what’s going on in the skies.
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/uN4O777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Nowadays,peoplearefacingmoreandmorework-relatedstress.Statethepossiblereasonsforthisphenomenonandmakesomereco
Aftertakingabriefhiatustoweathertherecession,aninvasionofBritainbysomeofAmerica’sbest-knownretailbrands—incl
WhenIdecidedtoquitmyfulltimeemploymentitneveroccurredtomethatImightbecomeapartofanewinternationaltrend.
Itisreportedthatthenumberofcollegestudentsharassedbypsychologicalproblemsisontheriseforvariousreasons,nearly
Insixteenth-centuryItalyandeighteenth-centuryFrance,waningprosperityandincreasingsocialunrestledtherulingfamilies
Clearlyifwearetoparticipateinthesocietyinwhichwelivewemustcommunicatewiththeotherpeople.Agreatdealof
Forthefirsttimeindecades,researchersarereportingasignificantdropworldwideinthenumberofwomendyingeachyearfro
TheAmericangovernmentisdividedintothreebranches:thelegislative,theexecutiveandthejudicial.Theyarerepresentedby
Intheschoolsofancienttimes,themostimportantexaminationswerespoken.Usuallythestudentsweresupposedtosaypoetrya
Intheschoolsofancienttimes,themostimportantexaminationswerespoken.Usuallythestudentsweresupposedtosaypoetrya
随机试题
甲公司2011年6月以前为筹建期间,7月以后为生产经营期间。当年发生下列经济业务。(1)2011年6月筹建期间发生开办费用40万元;(2)2011年7月委托A公司代销商品,商品成本为100万元,合同规定售价为120万元,A公司按照售价的5%收取手续费,
锥体束损害时,不出现的体征有()
长期服用雷公藤,可对肝、肾、生殖系统产生损害作用,属于()。
最适合用于登记存货的账簿是()。
期货公司的交易保证金不足,期货交易所履行了通知义务,而期货公司未及时追加保证金。当期货公司要求保留持仓并经书面协商一致时,下列说法中,正确的是( )。
有效市场理论认为,证券在任一时点的价格均对所有相关信息作出了反应。股票价格的任何变化只会由新信息引起。()
训练班级成员自己管理自己,自己教育自己,自己开展活动的最好载体是()。
中国共产党领导的统一战线,包含着两个联盟。其中,基本的联盟是
(1)用SQL语句完成下列操作:检索"田亮"所借图书的书名、作者和价格,结果按价格降序存入book_temp表中。(2)在考生文件夹下有一个名为menu_lin的下拉式菜单,请设计一个名为form_menu的顶层表单,将菜单menu_lin加入到该表单中
在关系窗口中,双击两个表之间的连接线,会出现( )。
最新回复
(
0
)