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Comment by vthallam | Hacker News Reader

Apparently better for consumers in general now that there's more competition. One Industry I really really want them to enter is Consumer Airlines. Service in most airlines sucks, like big time. Can't wait for Amazon Airlines with Prime Video and Internet available for all.

But of course I know that's a distant dream unless the Prime Air works great.

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Airlines suck because it’s an undifferentiated service. Consumers aren’t willing to pay much extra for better service, and the lowest ticket price wins. It’s a race to the bottom on price, so features and comfort get cut in exchange for cost savings.

It’s basically a commodity industry with high capital requirements and high volatility in marginal costs. There’s a reason that most airlines globally are subsidized by governments (yes, including in the US).

Edit: and don’t forget that the airplanes themselves are heavily subsidized (Boeing and Airbus are two of the most heavily subsidized companies in the world). And even then, the industry can’t consistently make a profit over an extended period of high fuel prices.

I've never seen a serious attempt at service differentiation other than the ones that come at 5x cost.

The "quality" difference between most airlines is less than the random noise of getting staff on a good or bad day.

Premium economy - a better seat/legroom, but otherwise much the same service as economy (modulo sometimes free drinks or nicer food presentation). It's nowhere near universally available, but where it is, it's often available for around a 50% markup.

> [...] undifferentiated service [...] basically a commodity industry

That's pretty much Amazon's sweet spot.

I don't see them getting into passenger travel; the quickest way to trash your brand is to be a telecom or an airline. Low margin, undifferentiated services that consumers need, but require high capital investments... your investors will push you to grow per-seat revenue, and your customers will punish you for it (or vice versa).

No it sucks because gates are the finite resource in airlines, and deregulation combined with the government’s current view on anti-trust made it possible to monopolize the gates.

> Can't wait for Amazon Airlines with Prime Video and Internet available for all.

It already exists on JetBlue. Prime video is for Prime members and Internet access for everyone.

https://www.jetblue.com/flying-on-jetblue/wifi/

Marketing copy:

> Earn 3 TrueBlue points per $1 spent shopping on Amazon.com. + Redeem those points for your next Award flight. + Enjoy fast, free Fly-Fi brought to you by Amazon. + Stream your favorite movies and TV shows on Amazon Video.

Man, I hear this argument all the time about airline service.

I've tried many airlines for work...service is fine. If your expecting 1950s level service you can pay 1950s pricing for business class.

I wanted Amazon to remake car rental after standing in line at a car rental place for 1.5 hours in for a Convertible I'd booked to go to Coachella, and then being told that they'd given it away to the people right in front of us because we were 'late' (WTF we were in line for 1.5 hours).

Fuck car rental companies.

I can't wait for Amazon Healthcare. I don't fly much, but I feel your woes. Last time I did I swore I wouldn't do it again unless it was the only way to get there.

Isn't Amazon notorious for bad customer service though? That would prevent them from disputing the industry.

I think they're a mixed bag, probably depending on some customer profitability / value score. I've heard other people complain about trouble when packages were stolen, but the few times it's happened to me, I've gotten replacements overnighted without even having to talk (chat or phone) to anyone.

Amazon is notorious for the opposite actually, at least in their retail business.

???

I've always found Amazon customer service to be amazing.

Seriously, I can't think of any other company where it's as easy to get a real person on the phone. Or a refund.

Amazon's customer service to consumers is exceptional, but the service they give to their merchants is horrible and extremely incompetent.

Yes. Business customer service is terrible.

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