IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/gunwpe/0123.html

Airline choice, switching costs and frequent flyer programs

Author

Listed:
  • Carlsson, Fredrik

    (Department of Economics, School of Economics and Commercial Law, Göteborg University)

  • Löfgren, Åsa

    (Department of Economics, School of Economics and Commercial Law, Göteborg University)

Abstract

Switching costs are costs that customers face when switching from one firm to another. In markets such as the airline market where repeated purchases are common, switching costs may be substantial. In this paper we estimate the switching costs for domestic airline routes in Sweden between 1992 and 2002. In addition we also test for the determinants of switching costs. In particular we test to what extent factors such as frequent flyer programs and flag carriers have an effect on switching costs. The paper ends with a brief discussion on the welfare consequences of switching cots, where the connection between habit formation and switching costs is discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Carlsson, Fredrik & Löfgren, Åsa, 2004. "Airline choice, switching costs and frequent flyer programs," Working Papers in Economics 123, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0123
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2077/2812
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shy, Oz, 2002. "A quick-and-easy method for estimating switching costs," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 71-87, January.
    2. Farrell, Joseph & Shapiro, Carl, 1988. "Dynamic Competition with Switching Costs," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt1h02g9q4, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    3. Joseph Farrell & Carl Shapiro, 1988. "Dynamic Competition with Switching Costs," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 19(1), pages 123-137, Spring.
    4. Löfgren, Åsa, 2003. "The Effect of Addiction on Environmental Taxation in a First and Second-best world," Working Papers in Economics 91, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    5. Paul Klemperer, 1995. "Competition when Consumers have Switching Costs: An Overview with Applications to Industrial Organization, Macroeconomics, and International Trade," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 62(4), pages 515-539.
    6. Moshe Kim & Doron Kliger & Bent Vale, 2001. "Estimating Switching Costs and Oligopolistic Behavior," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 01-13, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania.
    7. Raquel Carrasco & José M. Labeaga & J. David López-Salido, 2005. "Consumption and Habits: Evidence from Panel Data," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(500), pages 144-165, January.
    8. Proussaloglou, Kimon & Koppelman, Frank S., 1999. "The choice of air carrier, flight, and fare class," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 193-201.
    9. Robert D. Cairns & John W. Galbraith, 1990. "Artificial Compatibility, Barriers to Entry, and Frequent-Flyer Programs," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 23(4), pages 807-816, November.
    10. Beggs, Alan W & Klemperer, Paul, 1992. "Multi-period Competition with Switching Costs," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(3), pages 651-666, May.
    11. Paul Klemperer, 1987. "The Competitiveness of Markets with Switching Costs," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 18(1), pages 138-150, Spring.
    12. Loewenstein, George & Thaler, Richard H, 1989. "Intertemporal Choice," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 3(4), pages 181-193, Fall.
    13. Matthew Rabin, 1998. "Psychology and Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(1), pages 11-46, March.
    14. Pollak, Robert A, 1970. "Habit Formation and Dynamic Demand Functions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(4), pages 745-763, Part I Ju.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Guy Arie & Paul E. Grieco, 2014. "Who pays for switching costs?," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 379-419, December.
    2. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/6143 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Sherzod B. Akhundjanov & Ben O. Smith & Max St. Brown, 2023. "Path Dependence as a Path to Consumer Surplus and Loyalty," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 63(1), pages 1-20, August.
    4. Jackie Krafft & Evens Salies, 2008. "Why and how should innovative industries with high consumer switching costs be re-regulated?," Documents de Travail de l'OFCE 2008-04, Observatoire Francais des Conjonctures Economiques (OFCE).
    5. Miguel Villas-Boas, J., 2015. "A short survey on switching costs and dynamic competition," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 219-222.
    6. Chod, Jiri & Lyandres, Evgeny, 2023. "Product market competition with crypto tokens and smart contracts," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(1), pages 73-91.
    7. Thomas, Catherine & Chen, Zhuoqiong (Charlie) & Stanton, Christopher T., 2020. "Information Spillovers in Experience Goods Competition," CEPR Discussion Papers 15255, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Pei-Yu (Sharon) Chen & Lorin M. Hitt, 2002. "Measuring Switching Costs and the Determinants of Customer Retention in Internet-Enabled Businesses: A Study of the Online Brokerage Industry," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 13(3), pages 255-274, September.
    9. Fourberg, Niklas, 2023. "Let's lock them in: Collusion under consumer switching costs," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    10. Yang Yang & Cheng-Hung Wu, 2024. "Competition and market dynamics in duopoly: the effect of switching costs," OR Spectrum: Quantitative Approaches in Management, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research e.V., vol. 46(1), pages 211-235, March.
    11. Carlos Ocaña Pérez de Tudela & Yolanda Polo & Francisco Javier Sesé, 2009. "Existencia y heterogeneidad de los costes de cambio en la industria de la Telefonía Móvil," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 191(4), pages 9-26, December.
    12. Mark J. Tremblay, 2019. "Platform Competition and Endogenous Switching Costs," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 537-559, December.
    13. Evens Salies, 2012. "Product Innovation when Consumers have Switching Costs," Chapters, in: Michael Dietrich & Jackie Krafft (ed.), Handbook on the Economics and Theory of the Firm, chapter 31, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    14. Rizkiah, Siti K. & Disli, Mustafa & Salim, Kinan & Razak, Lutfi A., 2021. "Switching costs and bank competition: Evidence from dual banking economies," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    15. Ciotti, Fabrizio & Hornuf, Lars & Stenzhorn, Eliza, 2021. "Lock-In Effects in Online Labor Markets," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2021014, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    16. Elder, Erick & To, Ted, 1999. "Consumer switching costs and private information," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 369-375, June.
    17. Huang Rui & Perloff Jeffrey M & Villas-Boas Sofia B, 2006. "Effects of Sales on Brand Loyalty," Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, De Gruyter, vol. 4(1), pages 1-26, July.
    18. Krafft, Jackie & Salies, Evens, 2008. "The diffusion of ADSL and costs of switching Internet providers in the broadband industry: Evidence from the French case," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 706-719, May.
    19. Xuying Zhao & Hong Guo & Gangshu Cai & Subhajyoti Bandyopadhyay, 2021. "The Role of Expectation–Reality Discrepancy in Service Contracts," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(11), pages 4160-4175, November.
    20. Toker Doganoglu, 2010. "Switching costs, experience goods and dynamic price competition," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 167-205, June.
    21. Jing Shao & Huanhuan Chen & Jinke Li, 2022. "Price-Rising Competition: a Higher Market Price When a Monopoly Faces a Small Entrant," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 481-518, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0123. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ann-Christin Räätäri Nyström (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/naiguse.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.