Quote:
Originally Posted by edm7583
Ah, the truth comes out. I knew there was more to this nonstory than meets the eye. Since it's August, I'm sure they must have had the empty rooms. Neither US Airways, nor The Punta Cana Group, who owns the airport, was legally obligated do do a thing. The fact that they offered rooms at the resort and transportation was a nice gesture, and they probably would have gotten the rooms at a good rate since it's low season, but they refused since it wasn't going to be given to them for free. Airlines are not charities, yet the cheap, spoiled US public (and others) continue to scream and whine for constant free handouts. These are probably low yield passengers getting a rock bottom package deal in the slow season, and the cost for the airline to fork over the hotel for free would probably cost them most (if not all!) the revenue for that flight.
I've said it before. The biggest reason airlines are cutting back on Caribbean flights including the DR, is that these routes are notorious for having low RASM (revenue per available seat mile). American is planning capacity cuts with reduced flights and smaller aircraft, Delta and Continental and US Airways are cutting back big time. The only airline increasing service to the DR is JetBlue! The reason for this is the few high revenue passengers (business class passengers and passengers paying full Y fares.) The traffic is mostly leisure passenger, or immigrants visiting relatives and friends in their home country. Both shop around, buy in advance, and only fly when they get the rock bottom fare. The airlines are already losing money on you even when they transport you without any glitches, and when someting goes wrong, they want free handouts! With passengers like that, and with the price of oil, the airlines can no longer afford to have your business!
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Well if they offered them transportation back to the resort and rooms thats better than being stranded.
Saying the US public and others are cheap, spoiled and whines for handouts? Most consumers are looking to save money with the current economy.
The AI resorts on the island have no choice but to offer the rock bottom priced packages or they could never fill the rooms.
There just aren't enough rich vacationers to fill all those rooms at higher prices.
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