They stay focused on getting people from Point A to Point B, ignoring the everyday needs of the customer. In the process, they’ve created their own dynamic of encouraging people to shop by price because otherwise there’s no difference between airlines.”

Forrester’s research finds that only one third of business travelers describe themselves as brand loyal to any travel company, “which means that a high degree of travelers are neutral or even disloyal,” he says.

The big unknown is whether the U.S. will open domestic route rights to foreign-flag airlines. “Right now, that’s not on the table,” Harteveldt says. “But with the U.S. gaining rights to fly within the EU under the Open Skies agreement — for example, American Airlines in theory could compete in the local London-to-Paris market under Open Skies — I suspect the EU will want the U.S. to open its domestic market to foreign-flag airlines. And if that happens, there’s going to be a giant sucking sound of high value/high margin customers looking for a better, more pleasant experience who will be flying those foreign airlines.”

But what it ultimately comes down to is the customer experience, Harteveldt says. “If they don’t execute well, no one will fly them again.”

Now what was it about this you missed?