the replacing seats thread reminds me of another thing.
At this moment, the technical condition at take-off time is an image factor. Image = perception by the public. Passengers haven't got a clue.
Take an old 727. Repaint if with a nice livery and refurbish it with new seats. 90% of the passengers will enter the plane and think it's a new plane. Only us AirlineSim nerds will recognise the plane as an old 727 :-)
So what I suggest is to attach a date to the seats and use that as an image factor instead of technical condition. After all, real airlines also have to refurbish their planes once in a while.
I actually like this idea, and hope it will be one of the things implemented, when the upgrade comes to the seating system. I tend to cycle through aircraft pretty quickly, so it probably wouldn’t affect me much either way, but it’s still interesting.
I see one slight tiny neezy problem with taking age of seats instead of age of aircraft into image condition.
Imagine big airlines like mine - at 2000 aircraft already at main airline and 2800 holding-wide, within about a year I will have to start ordering aircraft also for replacement instead of pure expansion. If I just keep aircraft flying aircraft regardless of age and just change seats every 6-12 months on the whole fleet, I can keep expanding forever (not just with the main airline but as the whole holding in general) because it would be seat/cabin image that would affect me and not the aircraft age.
So while this might seem like a good proposal initially, it would certainly open up a huge downside to it (and upside to players like me) with not having to worry about aircraft expansion. Another downside would be the already-gained image. Old aircraft form image and airlines that ever used old aircraft have that low image part of their image forever. It would be unjust to new airlines opening up that they could just lease a 30-year old MD-82 install a brand new seats and reach image 90. It does not make sense. Plus, it would deplete all old aircraft so new entrants could not get fast access in the new markets. There would be no longer an incentive for airlines to get rid of the old aircraft as fast as possible in order to improve image. there would no longer be that decision to be made, whether to start fast and with bad image which would be dragged down forever, or start slower but with new(ish) aircraft and good image from the get go.
You could also say ... well, let's make seats lose quality/image the same way aircraft does - again this would not bring that desired impact, because when players change aircraft, the seats are (under current system) gone and a large majority of players replace aircraft at 2.5 years, so having the seats go by the same method, it's basically irrelevant impact as the seats are change at those 2.5 years mark as well.
Again, while this seems like a good idea initially, it has some very serious unintended consequences.
all in all I operate about a thousand planes and I don't want many more, for the reason you gave. I don't want to spend all my time replacing old aircraft ;-)
What I suggested is to replace the technical image by an interior (seat) image. The other image factors: staff mood, leg room, age of the plane and popularity with passengers would remain unchanged.
And a quick look at the information page of a dozen airlines does not convince me that airlines replace their planes when they are 2.5 years old.
Enjoy the weekend,
Jan
@Quintin: some of my ideas have been roasted. It doesn't mean people wanted to roast me.
A cabin-based image component will most definitely arrive at some point in time, probably as part of the next phase of the general overhaul of the cabin system.
Are there more people than me who always look up the airframe they fly in?
If I would fly in a 727 I would be extremely excited because I never remember flying in one. Getting the cockpit jumpseat would be like a dream. Though I would like to keep the "popularity with passengers rating" which takes into account aircraft type. You do not need to be an aviation enthusiast to see the difference between a noisy DC-8 and a 787. I would suggest not touching this rating.
I think age of the aircraft is affecting the image a little bit more than what it should. If you get on a 727 or DC8, you will notice that and say it's an old plane, but if you get on a 767 with 20 yrs history, if the airline is maintaining it well, you won't notice different between a 20 yrs and a 10 yrs 767 unless you use the tail number to find out its age. The popularity of the aircraft should already show that PAX know that they are flying on a DC8 not a 787. People might complain about Delta fleet when it was using DC9s, but i don't think their over-aged aircraft (even after retiring their DC9s) stop anyone flying with them.
Okay, back to the topic :) I think this idea might cause some issues unless you can set an automatically replacement time. I don't think all the players replace their aircraft every 3 yrs. At least i don't, and i don't want to spend extra time on tracking my seat age and replacing new seats one by one. My airline is still a small one on the server, think about those players who have thousands of aircraft on their fleets, it will be a nightmare. I'm not saying seat age doesn't affect the airline's image, but maybe the replacement process should be a little bit easier.
…but if you get on a 767 with 20 yrs history, if the airline is maintaining it well, you won’t notice different between a 20 yrs and a 10 yrs 767 unless you use the tail number to find out its age. The popularity of the aircraft should already show that PAX know that they are flying on a DC8 not a 787. People might complain about Delta fleet when it was using DC9s, but i don’t think their over-aged aircraft (even after retiring their DC9s) stop anyone flying with them.
In reality it really depends of the company who operates the aircraft. The cabin-condition of a brand-new Boeing 737-800 can deteriorate within a few months at one company while other companies take care of the cabins even after 25 or 30 years of operations and with original cabin-decor.
Delta is a nice example with their MD-88s (which will be gradually retired over the next few years). Their cabins received improvements over the last 25 years (new doors for the bins etc.) but the original McDonnell Douglas-designed cabin walls and ceilings etc. were retained and they often look "newer", cleaner, more fresh compared to an "abused" A320 or Boeing 737-800.
... The popularity of the aircraft should already show that PAX know that they are flying on a DC8 not a 787...
That is true.
...replacing new seats one by one... think about those players who have thousands of aircraft on their fleets, it will be a nightmare...
Well... you could organise fleets by type. If not, have the planes in a fleet ordered by type, check them and click at the bottom on <cabin configuration>. Replacing planes and transferring the schedule takes more time, Even with the new (thank you Martin) option that transfers the whole schedule with one click.
Once you have 500 planes, every new plane will get bookings. I fly routes with zero demand that are fully or almost fully booked. At this stage, I can add planes and flights until I run out of flight numbers. That doesn't add quality to my airline, it only increases my ego (which is big enough as it is ;-)
I know the game isn't about micro management. But if I want to operate thousands of planes, make me work for it.
Well... you could organise fleets by type. If not, have the planes in a fleet ordered by type, check them and click at the bottom on <cabin configuration>. Replacing planes and transferring the schedule takes more time, Even with the new (thank you Martin) option that transfers the whole schedule with one click.
Actually, i'm doing that even now ;) , but when i add new planes into my fleet, there will be a different of seat age for each aircraft, so the replacement time will be different, that's what i was talking about :)
I am sure that if/when seat age will come into question, there will be tools to sort by the seat age, similar as there is by aircraft age, condition, leasing price, leasing payment date, etc.
Are there more people than me who always look up the airframe they fly in?
So do I. And I'm sure so do most of the people in this game. But pick any random flight in any random airport and, as people are leaving the plane, ask them what plane they just flew in. I'd bet 90% of them not only couldn't tell what model they just flew in, they couldn't tell if it was an Airbus or a Boeing!
We are aviation enthusiasts. The majority of the population is not.