11 replies to this topic

[xris]

From time to time it becomes very difficult to exist in AE. Some airlines put their planes on routes and reduces the travel fees that much, that it becomes impossible to compete with them. The ticket dumping prices are that low, that I cannot understand how they get any positive money out of that. I don't! Load factor of 0% from ORD to CVG with $50?

Thus I'm asking for a AE Trade Commission to set a minimum required ticket price to give smaller airlines a chance of success. Will that be possible?

Kind regards Chris

P.S. I'm asking nicely! Please answer the same way.

[Glennos]

You don't necessarily need to make a profit by dumping, if you make enough money elswhere you can use dumping to increase your market share en thus make your hub stronger which in turn let's you charge more on flights / routes that do make money ;-)

[Maestro69]

Let me say this:

Miller made AE to simulate a deregulated aviation market, in which, airlines will do anything to survive, and if that means dumping capacity so ur competitors dont make money and leave, well tough luck.

What u propose would only restrict game play further and not part of Miller's vision in AE.

[miller22 (inactive)]

xris has a point as it relates to new players entering an already saturated game. It is difficult, and I've toyed around with limiting the number of players in a game, but that is kind of tough for those who want to play. The chance of this in the future is probable, but we've other things to fix first.

[Glennos]

xris has a point as it relates to new players entering an already saturated game. It is difficult, and I've toyed around with limiting the number of players in a game, but that is kind of tough for those who want to play. The chance of this in the future is probable, but we've other things to fix first.

I think another reason why you may consider limiting the amount of players is the fact that some people this round have created loads of airlines for the sole purpose of releasing gates to the public market as was the case for MDW , CDG , MCO and others.

I don't mean 1 or 2 gates I mean like 80 to 100 at a time.

[Maestro69]

I also think and a point i forgot to mention is that new players want to start at already saturated airports and think they are going to make money. Not sure what people would feel about this, but perhaps limit the amount of players that can start up at one airport to at least some room and grow for those who have choosen that location. It would ease the pressure on most routes...

Its the same problem round after round, with saturated routes. Yet, smaller airport may not be goldmine, but with sufficient time and effort, can still allow any player to make money and grow.

But then again, its another point that be looked at and discussed at a later date...

[EXTspotter]

Again that is first come first served, which isn't particularly fair on people who cannot be there at the start of a round. I think that a fair way to keep everyone playing, but reducing these problems is to give subsidies to certain airlines who operate certain routes - this could help new players survive.

[xris]

[...]

Its the same problem round after round, with saturated routes. Yet, smaller airport may not be goldmine, but with sufficient time and effort, can still allow any player to make money and grow.

[...]

yep... my hub is in Nuremberg Germany and Gothenburg Sweden... not much money but it works...

[galapagapop]

Limiting players will do little if anything at all. The problem as usual stems from the top 100 airlines that will have the cash and assets to throw their weight around easily, preventing smaller airlines from entering markets. Personally I'd like to see some routes see price caps to curb price gouging earlier on, and control capacity thereafter and slow the game down. This also helps to stop obvious money making routes from becoming trash routes early on as competitors move in on the first there and prices don't get reset. Another issue is still gates and hubbing, limiting players will never stop this, actually it's probably hurt as feeders add gates to markets otherwise locked out to the little guy.

[tswing]

I can understand the one dollar fares to a point, and admittedly I am new to the game and not a major player, currently 71st making about $145 mill/month. But when you have one player making 46 mill on 800 mill in ticket sales for a whopping 5.8% profit, I have to wonder if something is up? I don't know much about alliances or the LF bug but it seems to me that if one player agrees to sacrafice his profits with the hope that someone will leave the route benefitting his alliance members, well...

I don't want a regulated environment but predatory pricing should have some limits. I still enjoy the game, and am not complaining, but am concerned, even I could reduce all my fares to $0 and not go bankrupt for some time (and even if I did, could still operate), thereby ruining the game for many players.

[dianemather]

Adding some limits to the game would help.
What if each airline could only serve ??# of cities and only have a certain # of aircraft? Surely that would help by ensuring that every "big boy" did not fly to every city because he/she would have a maximum number of cities and limited aircraft. Now some more thought would have to go into picking what and where.

Diane

Disclaimer: I know nothing about writing scripts!!!!

[LOT 737-300]

Adding some limits to the game would help.
What if each airline could only serve ??# of cities and only have a certain # of aircraft? Surely that would help by ensuring that every "big boy" did not fly to every city because he/she would have a maximum number of cities and limited aircraft. Now some more thought would have to go into picking what and where.

Diane

Disclaimer: I know nothing about writing scripts!!!!

Well, I know that until someone hacked up the script, planes used to age. I assume that this would make them cost more to keep up, which would force airlines to eventually buy new ones. I'm more infavor of having the game's practices reformed, I've pretty much stopped playing because I'm just simply sick and tired of how people are exploiting bugs (intentially and unintentially) and cheats as well as other factors I will refuse to get into now. I'm more in favor of the terminal idea, limiting how many gates a airline can rent without having to build a terminal, as well as possibly limiting frequencies between cities.