Paying for Status? - The effect of frequent flier program member status on air fare choice

Frequent flier programs (FFPs) are said to affect airline customer behaviour such that revenue of sponsoring airlines increases. To this end prior research relies on assumptions of competition, lock-in effects and variations in scale and scope of FFPs. Whether a FFP by itself induces a price premium remains unanswered. In an effort to shine some light on this question, we apply discrete choice analysis to a new proprietary data set of actual frequent flier member flight behaviour (fares paid, FFP points received) over a 12-months period. We take advantage of the variations in the structure of FFPs (Gold, Silver and Bronze tier levels), to assess both the existence of a FFP price premium and the price premiums average monetary value in US$ per FFP member. Our findings suggest that FFP members are willing to pay a price premium of up to six percent, which is directly attributable to the FFP.discrete choice analysis, loyalty programs, relationship marketing, price premium, frequent flier program, CRM

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (3rd edition)

In 2008 we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, research on this topic has continued to accelerate, and many new scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Accordingly, it is important to update these guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Various reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. For example, a key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers or volume of autophagic elements (e.g., autophagosomes or autolysosomes) at any stage of the autophagic process versus those that measure fl ux through the autophagy pathway (i.e., the complete process including the amount and rate of cargo sequestered and degraded). In particular, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation must be differentiated from stimuli that increase autophagic activity, defi ned as increased autophagy induction coupled with increased delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (inmost higher eukaryotes and some protists such as Dictyostelium ) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). In other words, it is especially important that investigators new to the fi eld understand that the appearance of more autophagosomes does not necessarily equate with more autophagy. In fact, in many cases, autophagosomes accumulate because of a block in trafficking to lysosomes without a concomitant change in autophagosome biogenesis, whereas an increase in autolysosomes may reflect a reduction in degradative activity. It is worth emphasizing here that lysosomal digestion is a stage of autophagy and evaluating its competence is a crucial part of the evaluation of autophagic flux, or complete autophagy. Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as for reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to monitor autophagy. Along these lines, because of the potential for pleiotropic effects due to blocking autophagy through genetic manipulation it is imperative to delete or knock down more than one autophagy-related gene. In addition, some individual Atg proteins, or groups of proteins, are involved in other cellular pathways so not all Atg proteins can be used as a specific marker for an autophagic process. In these guidelines, we consider these various methods of assessing autophagy and what information can, or cannot, be obtained from them. Finally, by discussing the merits and limits of particular autophagy assays, we hope to encourage technical innovation in the field

Minder concurrentie door Lelystad Airport

Door vluchten te verplaatsen van Schiphol naar het veertig kilometer verderop gelegen Lelystad krijgt Schiphol de ruimte om zijn routenetwerk uit te breiden. De keerzijde van zo’n verplaatsing is dat de concurrentie tussen de luchtvaartmaatschappijen flink kan dalen

Intermodal Competition in The London-Paris Passenger Market: High-Speed Rail and Air Transport

This discussion paper has led to a publication in Journal of Urban Economics , 71(3), 278-88. This paper studies inter- and intramodal competition in the London-Paris passenger market. Using revealed preference data, we estimate nested and mixed multinomial logit models to examine passenger behaviour in the London-Paris market. We present a case study on the relocation of Eurostar services from Waterloo International to St Pancras International station. The results show that competition is present in this market. Demand is elastic, and passengers are heterogeneous in their valuation of fares and accessibility. Aviation and high-speed rail are homogenous in unobserved effects. The large market share of the Eurostar and the withdrawal of aviation alternatives indicate that competition will decline in the long-run.inter- and intramodal competition, nested logit, mixed logit, aviation, rail

Low-cost airlines and airport competition

An important question from the viewpoint of competition analysis in the air transport industry is the extent to which low-cost airlines operating from a secondary airport compete with full-service airlines serving a main airport in a multiple airport region. In this paper we address the issue of the competition between full-service and low-cost airlines serving adjacent airports in the Greater London using econometric estimation of demand structure (own- and cross-price elasticities). Our analysis follows the methodology in (Pels, E., Nijkamp, P., Rietveld, P., 2000. Airport and airline competition for passengers departing from a large metropolitan area. Journal of Urban Economics, 48 (1), 29-45, Pels, E., Nijkamp, P., Rietveld, P., 2003. Access to and competition between airports: a case study for the San Francisco Bay area. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 37 (1), 71-83). It is based on the nested logit model which we use to capture three key dimensions of passenger choice: air fare, surface-access costs and frequency. We obtained estimates of the own- and cross-price elasticities, which was the focus of our interest. On the basis of our understanding of the industry dynamics we find these estimates, especially of the cross-price elasticities, to be on the low side

Low-cost airlines and airport competition

An important question from the viewpoint of competition analysis in the air transport industry is the extent to which low-cost airlines operating from a secondary airport compete with full-service airlines serving a main airport in a multiple airport region. In this paper we address the issue of the competition between full-service and low-cost airlines serving adjacent airports in the Greater London using econometric estimation of demand structure (own- and cross-price elasticities). Our analysis follows the methodology in (Pels, E., Nijkamp, P., Rietveld, P., 2000. Airport and airline competition for passengers departing from a large metropolitan area. Journal of Urban Economics, 48 (1), 29-45, Pels, E., Nijkamp, P., Rietveld, P., 2003. Access to and competition between airports: a case study for the San Francisco Bay area. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 37 (1), 71-83). It is based on the nested logit model which we use to capture three key dimensions of passenger choice: air fare, surface-access costs and frequency. We obtained estimates of the own- and cross-price elasticities, which was the focus of our interest. On the basis of our understanding of the industry dynamics we find these estimates, especially of the cross-price elasticities, to be on the low side.Low-cost airlines Nested logit Competition analysis Airports Cross-price elasticities