????很難再找到像航空旅行這樣的服務了。它本身令人著迷，但包裝和呈現卻很拙劣。雖然航空公司能夠為我們提供飛翔于藍天之上的夢幻服務，但我們還是會心生厭惡，其中一部分原因在于，他們把消費者搞得糊里糊涂。最令人感到不快的是，航空公司往往故弄玄虛，讓掏錢購買服務的乘客們一頭霧水。

????燃油成本在可預見的未來依然很高，而航空燃油是航空公司最大的一塊費用支出。為了提高利潤率，航空公司必須從乘客身上擠壓出更多的利潤。最近，航空公司已經開始采取行動。他們為經濟艙乘客提供最低廉的機票，但開始對其他服務收費。這些乘客早已經習慣了享受免費機上餐飲、免費選擇逃生門旁寬敞的座位，航空公司的做法讓他們大為惱火。

????普華永道咨詢公司（PwC Consulting）全球實踐主管保羅?阿利桑德羅表示，航空公司并不一定非得這么做。正相反，如果執行得當的話（執行相當關鍵），很多航空公司目前的這套做法也能讓乘客的飛行旅程變得更愉悅。

????秘訣就在于二等艙。通常，最大規模的航空公司也被稱為主流航空公司，他們賺取利潤的對象是飛行次數最頻繁的乘客。他們大多通過積分獎勵計劃來積累消費者的購買力。為了吸引其他乘客，航空公司還玩起了價格游戲，將原本包含在票價中的服務分拆出來，從而使得廣告中打出的機票價格降了下來。

????但有跡象表明，以高明的方式為價格敏感型消費者提供服務可能比僅僅關注精英會員更好。

????二等艙很有價值。美國經濟分析局（the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis）經濟學家亞當?夏皮羅表示，低成本航空公司在機票需求下降時往往表現更好。（說明，這只是他個人的觀點，并不代表經濟分析局。）

????夏皮羅說，在經濟蕭條期，主流航空公司最昂貴的票價會大幅下跌，而低成本航空公司在高端客戶銷售方面卻并沒有大幅下降。夏皮羅表示：“很多低成本航空公司的銷售重點并非那些支付意愿強烈的客戶，所以他們應對蕭條期的準備更為充分。”

????換句話說，在精英會員退出情況發生時，低成本航空公司并不會面臨相同的問題。因為他們的飛機上坐的都是二等艙乘客（乘客所期望的也是二等艙服務）。這些航空公司努力創造新的經濟艙體驗，而且有些做法似乎已經開始奏效。比如，跟其他航空公司相比，美國西南航空公司（Southwest Airlines）提供登機優先權服務比較晚，現在公司提供“晨鳥”自動驗票登機服務，單程10美元。這項服務在2011年第四季度創造了3,600萬美元的收入，比去年同期增長700萬美元。

????主流航空公司，包括聯合航空公司（United Airlines）、德爾塔航空公司（Delta Airlines）和美國航空公司（American Airlines），都不約而同地嘗試通過對附加服務進行收費來分化二等艙客戶，但他們的實際做法卻非常拙劣。他們現在讓消費者自主選擇選擇更大的腿部空間、艙內娛樂、餐飲服務以及行李超重權，給人的印象就是增加額外費用。

????It's hard to think of a more amazing product with poorer presentation than air travel. Despite the fact that airlines provide an incredible service (they let us fly, in the air), we love to hate on them, in part because they confuse customers. Most unpleasant of all is how airlines obfuscate what, exactly, their customers are purchasing.

????The cost of fuel will be high for the foreseeable future, and jet fuel is the airlines' greatest expense. To boost profit margins, companies will need to squeeze more money from passengers. Recently, carriers have tried to do this by offering economy passengers the lowest possible prices on flights and charging fees for other services. That strategy has ticked off fliers unused to paying for services such as meals or exit row seats.

????But it doesn't have to be this way, says Paul D'Alessandro, a global practice leader at PwC. On the contrary, if executed correctly -- and that's a big if -- the strategy that many airlines are already pursuing could make flying more pleasant.

????The key is in the coach cabin. Traditionally, the largest companies, also known as legacy carriers, have sought profit by going hard after their most frequent fliers, mostly with rewards programs, to hoard their purchasing power. To attract all other passengers, airlines have played the price game, often de-bundling services that were previously included in the ticket price, pushing the advertised fares down.

????But there's evidence that offering services in an intelligent way to cost-conscious customers might be a better strategy than focusing almost exclusively on elite fliers.

????Coach fliers are valuable. Airlines who bill themselves as low-cost carriers tend to do better when the demand for tickets decreases, says Adam Shapiro, an economist with the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. (His opinions are his own, not the Bureau's.)

????During a bust, Shapiro says, the price of legacy carriers' most expensive tickets fall dramatically, whereas low-cost carriers don't experience the same drop in top-paying customers. "A lot of the low cost carriers weren't really selling to these high-willingness-to-pay consumers," Shapiro says, "so they're perhaps more prepared for a bust."

????In other words, low-cost carriers don't face the same problem when elite flyers drop out because they are always flying with a plane full of coach cabin passengers (with coach expectations). Some of these airlines' efforts to create different economy-class experiences seem to have worked. For example, Southwest Airlines (LUV), which is relatively new to priority boarding, now offers an "EarlyBird" automatic check-in option for $10, each way. That program specifically generated $36 million in revenue during the fourth quarter of 2011, $7 million more than the previous year.

????Legacy airlines -- including United (UAL), Delta (DAL) and American Airlines -- have similarly tried to break up their coach fliers by charging for additional services, but they've done it in a pretty clunky way. The way they are currently offering customers the ability to choose extra legroom, in-flight entertainment, meal service, and charging baggage surcharges simply comes across as tacking on extra fees.