Virgin America Inc. (VA, Financial), in a bid to have a competitive advantage over rival Southwest Airlines Company (LUV, Financial), has introduced the 2-for-1 special scheme. According to this scheme, travelers with the Dallas Love can input three friends to the program. In addition to this, the airlines has also started its "best-fare guarantee" system for its flyers. Flyers can compare the prices of round trips or single trip ticket prices with that of its competitors. However, this facility will be available only for nonstop Dallas Love flights. Officials stated that the main reason to provide these facilities and promotion to the flyers was to counter and win over the tough competition against their arch rival Southwest Airlines' and lure the rivals clientele and add them to their own customer base. By the promotion, Virgin America hopes to become the major passenger-carrier in the Dallas Love Field.
Peer Pressure
In 2014, Southwest Airlines were not very happy given that two gates were given to their arch-rival Virgin America by the Department of Justice. As a counter-attack, the company had developed a strategy to offer flying tickets at a very low rate to their customers. Tickets were prices at $79 for a one way journey to Denver. Tickets to Orlando, Chicago, LA, etc. Were priced at a very low cost of $99. Now that Virgin America has come back with a better strategy to win consumers, it seems that Southwest will have to think of a better idea to retain their market share.
The 2-for-1 scheme
The two-for-one offer encourages flyers to dump Southwest and pick Virgin as the preferred airlines for the journey to and from Dallas. According to this scheme, the Elevate members will have to log on to WeInventedHigherExpectations.com and invite three of their friends for the Virgin America Frequent Flyer Program. Once this is done, Elevate members will receive a 2-for-1 coupon. The individual friends, who has been invited by the Elevate members will receive a 20% discount in their travel fare for any flight from or to Dallas Love Field. This scheme is valid for a 50% discount off the base fare for itineraries of exactly 2 guests. The 20% scheme is valid for flights flying in and out on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. On the remaining days, flyers will receive 10% discount for itineraries of up to 2 guests.
Management Talks
The Chief Marketing Officer of Virgin Airlines, Luanne Calvert said that this promotion will ensure that customers get the lowest rates for their flight journey. Not only that, they can also have a better travel experience. Virgin Airlines had previously launched the 'Free Love Field Campaign'. More than 27,000 flyers had subscribed into the promotion, the company reported. This campaign provided flyers with competitive prices to the airport closest to downtown Dallas. Calvert said that Virgin America was lucky to receive such kind of support from so many potential travelers. Now that the airlines know that flyers are loyal to Virgin, they will share their delight with their friends. Hence, the word will get spread as flyers deserve the best of both the worlds, Calvert went ahead to say.
Takeaway
Virgin America is known for offering several campaigns like the 'Low Fare Love Match', 'Free Love Field Campaign' etc. The airlines have been awarded "Best Domestic Airline" for 7 years along with the "Best Domestic Airline for Food Award" in 2014. excluding items1, the California-based airlines has reported a net income of $28.1 million for the last quarter of 2014. This is the highest net income in the history of the company. CEO and President David Cush said that 2014 was a very remarkable year for the company. Investors can expect ever-increasing returns given that the newly-launched campaign performs well.
