The spread of Low Cost Carriers has raised questions for some legacy carriers on how to handle them. Some set up airlines (Lufthansa and Germanwings), some operate an airline within an airline (who remembers Ted by United, Song by Delta) and some do LCC pricing inside the airline to fill extra capacity.
This is the line that Air France are taking, with the introduction of “Mini” Fares.
Mini Fares start at €49. They include:
- An Economy Class Seat
- Seat Assignment at Check In
- In flight food service
What you have to pay for:
- Luggage – online before departure for €15, or at the airport for €30
What you don’t get
- Flying Blue Miles
Should you want your frills (and miles if you collect Flying Blue Miles for some reason), you can buy a “Classic” Fare that starts about €20 more than the Mini fares.
Or for those who need help with the math, Air France values the fare at €49, a bag at €15 and whatever miles you earn at €5, making up the starting price of a “Classic” Fare
Mini fares are available to 58 destinations in the Air France short haul and medium haul network, intially to and from Paris-Orly, and expanding from Marseille, Nice and Toulouse over time, with some destinations from London City operated by CityJet. There’s a full list in the Air France Press Kit
Mini priced tickets are on sale now for selected flights from 6th February onwards. Depending on your need, and depending if you you value €5 for some Flying Blue Miles (or €20 if you’re not carrying luggage), it’s an intresting proposition.
It’ll be one to watch if other European Legacy Carriers copy this in another effort to protect themselves from the Low Cost Carriers….
Genius idea to charge for Elite and Redeemable miles. Completely changes the economics of earning elite status.
Uh oh… I can see where this could be going.. YIKES NO! Unless, the fare is much lower that all others then fine let the “cattle class” get them and a standard LUT be still 100% as is! That would work!
would this face demise like TED?
As it’s a fare bucket style sort of thing, it could be withdrawn without a fuss (unlike the breakup of TED). Will it is another matter – and I’m not sure…
Looks very like the EI model, except that EI was coming from a basic low fare with no frills and then introduced a ‘best fare’ which includes bag/FFP points and seat selection for an extra 20euro.
Smells like Air Canada