I recently bought an uncomfortable flight - mostly because there was no information on legroom on the purchasing system (designed in '70s and wrapped in web goodness)
Ultimately until the information to differentiate between flights is provided at POS all anyone can judge on is price.
A poster below has enough flight experience to know that United has less legroom and he is willing to pay a premium to avoid that. However that is only because he has external to the transaction knowledge.
If airlines want to differentiate their products they need to differentiate from POS backwards. That is a reworking of a vast network of affiliate sales. Maybe they could do it (anyone can book online) but I doubt anyone will take the risk
Like I said knowledge external to the transaction.
Take their info, place it in the SABRE (?) booking system and allow seat prices to vary by legroom and then airlines are competing on something other than price.
(To be honest I expect there are things they will find more useful to compete on)
Plus - when I have to wade through 100 differen options of legroom, childcare, airport parking and fligh routes I will pray for a return to the old days.
I have a sneaking suspicion the airlines are right - we do just see them as a bus from A to B.
Ultimately until the information to differentiate between flights is provided at POS all anyone can judge on is price.
A poster below has enough flight experience to know that United has less legroom and he is willing to pay a premium to avoid that. However that is only because he has external to the transaction knowledge.
If airlines want to differentiate their products they need to differentiate from POS backwards. That is a reworking of a vast network of affiliate sales. Maybe they could do it (anyone can book online) but I doubt anyone will take the risk