Business analyst: Since many air travellers choose flights on the basi

Question

Business analyst: Since many air travelers choose flights on the basis of fares posted online, Skyways Airlines now charges for many formerly complimentary services. Since these charges are not included in posted fares, the fares are lower, making the flights appear cheaper to customers shopping online. However, Skyways' strategy will inevitably backfire. Customers facing unexpected charges on flights will resent the airline and turn to its competitors.

Which of the following is an assumption the business analyst's argument requires?

A. At least some of Skyways Airlines' competitors charge separately for one or more formerly complimentary services.

B. When unexpected charges for services are included, the average cost of flights on Skyways Airlines is higher than that on most competing airlines.

C. If Skyways Airlines did not charge separately for formerly complimentary services, few customers would resent the airline or turn to its competitors.

D. At least some customers who buy Skyways Airlines' tickets incorrectly assume that the fares include certain complimentary services.

E. An airline's business strategy will backfire only if it causes most customers to resent the airline and turn to its competitors.

MartyMurray · Accepted Answer

Business analyst: Since many air travelers choose flights on the basis of fares posted online, Skyways Airlines now charges for many formerly complimentary services. Since these charges are not included in posted fares, the fares are lower, making the flights appear cheaper to customers shopping online. However, Skyways' strategy will inevitably backfire. Customers facing unexpected charges on flights will resent the airline and turn to its competitors.

The conclusion of the argument is the following:

Skyways' strategy will inevitably backfire. Customers facing unexpected charges on flights will resent the airline and turn to its competitors.

We see that the business analyst has reasoned that, since the total cost of the airfare and formerly complimentary services is higher than the fares customers see online, customers will be surprised by the charges for the services and therefore resent the airline and go to competitors.

How this argument works is a little vague, in that it doesn't directly say in the premises that the charges are unexpected. Rather, it first implies that the charges are unexpected by saying that, by not including them in posted fares, the airline makes the fares "appear cheaper" and then in the conclusion jumps to calling them "unexpected charges." So, the line between evidence and conclusion is blurred a little. Still, by using process of elimination and seeing which choice works best, we can arrive at the correct answer.

Which of the following is an assumption the business analyst's argument requires?

This correct answer will be something that must be true for the conclusion to follow from the facts presented.

A. At least some of Skyways Airlines' competitors charge separately for one or more formerly complimentary services.

This choice weakens the argument rather than states an assumption necessary for the argument to work.

After all, if competitors also charge separately for formerly complimentary services, then it's likely that either Skyways' customers won't turn to competitors because of Skyways' charges or, if customers do resent such charges, competitors' customers will resent them too and turn to Skyways'. In any case, if this choice is true, then we have less reason to believe that the strategy will backfire.

Eliminate.

B. When unexpected charges for services are included, the average cost of flights on Skyways Airlines is higher than that on most competing airlines.

This choice is trickiy because it helps to support the conclusion. After all, if this choice is true, then we have more reason to believe that Skyways' customers will go to competitors since the customers can get a better deal by going to competitors.

At the same time, we aren't looking for a strengthener. We need an assumption, and it's not the case that this choice must be true for the argument to work.

After all, resentment from unexpected charges could be enough to cause Skyways' customers to turn to competitors. So, Skyways' customers could turn to competitors even if the cost of flights on Skyways is not higher than that of flights on competing airlines.

So, the argument works even if it's not true that the average cost of flights on Skyways Airlines is higher than that of flights on competing airlines.

Eliminate.

C. If Skyways Airlines did not charge separately for formerly complimentary services, few customers would resent the airline or turn to its competitors.

The argument is about what  will  happen because of Skyways charging for formerly complimentary services.

The support for the conclusion doesn't require this assumption about what  would not  happen.

After all, even if more than a few customers  would  resent the airline if it did not charge for complimentary services, it could still be the case that charging for such services would cause some customers to resent the airline.

Eliminate.

D. At least some customers who buy Skyways Airlines' tickets incorrectly assume that the fares include certain complimentary services.

This choice is interesting.

After all, if this choice is not true and  no  customers who buy Skyways Airlines' tickets incorrectly assume that the fares include certain complimentary services, then Skyways' customers will not resent the airline and turn to competitors because of unexpected charges because the charges won't be unexpected. In that case, the conclusion doesn't follow from the facts.

So, this choice is an assumption the argument requires.

Keep.

E. An airline's business strategy will backfire only if it causes most customers to resent the airline and turn to its competitors.

This choice doesn't have to be true for the argument to work.

After all, the strategy could backfire by causing resentment even if causing resentment is not the  only  way it can backfire. After all, the fact that a strategy could backfire in other ways doesn't mean that it won't backfire in a resentment-causing way.

Eliminate.

Correct answer:  D

parthwagh · Answer

To understand why option D is the required assumption for the business analyst's argument, let's break down the argument and analyze the assumptions involved.

Argument Breakdown: 
Premise: Many air travelers choose flights based on fares posted online.
Premise: Skyways Airlines now charges for many formerly complimentary services.
Premise: These charges are not included in posted fares, making the flights appear cheaper to customers shopping online.
Conclusion: Skyways' strategy will inevitably backfire because customers facing unexpected charges on flights will resent the airline and turn to its competitors.

Key Points: 
The argument hinges on the idea that customers will be unhappy with unexpected charges.
The conclusion assumes that this unhappiness will lead to customers switching to competitors.
Analyzing the Answer Choices:
To identify the required assumption, we need to find a statement that must be true for the conclusion to hold.

A. At least some of Skyways Airlines' competitors charge separately for one or more formerly complimentary services.

This does not address the issue of customer resentment due to unexpected charges. It is irrelevant to the argument's main point.

B. When unexpected charges for services are included, the average cost of flights on Skyways Airlines is higher than that on most competing airlines.

This statement compares costs but does not directly relate to customer resentment due to unexpected charges. It is not necessary for the argument that Skyways' flights are more expensive overall.

C. If Skyways Airlines did not charge separately for formerly complimentary services, few customers would resent the airline or turn to its competitors.

While this statement suggests that not charging separately would avoid customer resentment, it does not directly address the assumption about why customers would resent the airline in the first place.

D. At least some customers who buy Skyways Airlines' tickets incorrectly assume that the fares include certain complimentary services.

This is crucial because the argument relies on the idea that customers are surprised and upset by unexpected charges. If customers did not have the incorrect assumption that certain services were included, they would not be surprised by the extra charges, and thus, would not resent the airline.

E. An airline's business strategy will backfire only if it causes most customers to resent the airline and turn to its competitors.

This statement sets a condition for a strategy to backfire but does not address the central assumption about unexpected charges leading to resentment.

Conclusion: 
The argument requires the assumption that customers believe certain services are included when they are not. Otherwise, the unexpected charges would not cause surprise and resentment. Therefore, the correct answer is D:

D. At least some customers who buy Skyways Airlines' tickets incorrectly assume that the fares include certain complimentary services.

This assumption is necessary for the argument to hold because it explains why customers would feel resentful and turn to competitors when faced with unexpected charges.

mbaprepavi · Answer

Skyways Airlines' strategy of charging for services that were previously complimentary will lead to customer resentment, ultimately causing customers to switch to competitors. This resentment is expected to arise when customers encounter  unexpected charges  during their flight experience

So why is it unexpected according to the author ?
Remember the conclusion about "unexpected charges", customers feel betrayed, and tricked.. --> A real life scenario

Lets think why customers might resent the charges? Why is it a surprise? Did they not already know that its an additional charge for these addons? Did they assume the meal comes free as part of their fare ? -- Authors POV.

The argument assumes that when customers purchase tickets from Skyways, they may assume that certain services (such as checked baggage, seat selection, or refreshments) are included in the fare, as they traditionally would have been. When these charges are revealed later, the customers are upset because they had a different expectation — they believed the fare covered those services

Therefore, The business analyst predicts that  unexpected charges  will lead to resentment. This assumption relies on the idea that customers might not be aware, before booking, that they will have to pay for these services separately.

If customers are unaware or confused about these charges (e.g., they mistakenly believe that checked baggage is included, but it isn’t), the surprise fees would indeed lead to frustration and dissatisfaction. This is exactly what the analyst argues will cause customers to turn to competitors.

If not, (negated) concusion falls apart. Customers will never encounted unexpected charges, and therefore will not lead to resentment and switching.

Raman109 · Answer

Business analyst: Since many air travelers choose flights on the basis of fares posted online, Skyways Airlines now charges for many formerly complimentary services. - Background info.

Since these charges are not included in posted fares, the fares are lower, making the flights appear cheaper to customers shopping online. - Background info.

However, Skyways' strategy will inevitably backfire. - Conclusion.

Customers facing unexpected charges on flights will resent the airline and turn to its competitors. - Supporting premise. Understand it carefully. Customer will get resentment because of the surprise factor on the unexpected charges, and not on the actual price of the ticket. Eg. SA's ticket price may be $200, and competitor may be $220, making SA cheaper overall but when the customers know that this $200, includes $30 for baggage and $10 for seat selection, these "unexpected charges" on services which were complementary earlier, will make them resent and move to competitor, because they may feel cheated. Had the posted fares included the proper breakup and included everything upfront, the customer may have not felt cheated. Its this surprise factor that causes resentment and make them leave and not the actual price of the ticket.

Which of the following is an assumption the business analyst's argument requires?

A. At least some of Skyways Airlines' competitors charge separately for one or more formerly complimentary services. - we are bothered about SA. out of scope.

B. When unexpected charges for services are included, the average cost of flights on Skyways Airlines is higher than that on most competing airlines. - average cost doesn't matter. The average cost for SA may still be lower but the issue is the surprise factor. No.

C. If Skyways Airlines did not charge separately for formerly complimentary services, few customers would resent the airline or turn to its competitors. - Irrelevant. This conditional is not even applicable as its already mentioned in the argument that they charge.

D. At least some customers who buy Skyways Airlines' tickets incorrectly assume that the fares include certain complimentary services. - Yes. They assumed that $200 will include complementary services as may be the case earlier. Had they known that this includes that complementary service charges, they would be no surprise in the end, and they would not leave. So this is our assumption.

E. An airline's business strategy will backfire only if it causes most customers to resent the airline and turn to its competitors - We don't need this minimum condition of "most." Irrelevant.

KarishmaB · Answer

Skyways Airlines now charges separately for many formerly complimentary services and posts lower fares online So these flight appear cheaper to customers shopping online (they may not be cheaper than others or may turn out to be more expensive even overall) Customers facing unexpected charges on flights will resent the airline and turn to its competitors. Conclusion: Skyways' strategy will inevitably backfire. We are given that customers facing unexpected charges on flights resent the airline and turn to its competitors. We also know that Skyway charges separately for some things now. But do we know whether Skyway's the charges are unexpected? No. What if they post lower fares but clearly mention that they will charge separately for some services? What if the customer is aware of separate charges? Then we cannot conclude that their strategy will backfire. Hence the conclusion breaks. D. At least some customers who buy Skyways Airlines' tickets incorrectly assume that the fares include certain complimentary services. For the conclusion, we have to assume that at least some customers who buy Skyways Airlines' tickets incorrectly assume that the fares include certain complimentary services. That for customers, the charges are unexpected. Hence (D) works. A. At least some of Skyways Airlines' competitors charge separately for one or more formerly complimentary services. This would make Skyway's strategy commonplace. If others are doing the same, then customers have no choice. B. When unexpected charges for services are included, the average cost of flights on Skyways Airlines is higher than that on most competing airlines. We don't need this to be true. It is possible that when unexpected charges for services are included, the average cost of flights on Skyways Airlines is similar to that on most competing airlines. It is also possible that Skyway's total cost still comes out to be lower. The issue here is not the 'higher or lower charges'. The issue is the 'unexpected charges.' If customers feel cheated, they may not go to the airline even if it is lower priced. C. If Skyways Airlines did not charge separately for formerly complimentary services, few customers would resent the airline or turn to its competitors. We do not need this to be true. It is possible that some customers do resent it for other reasons say low leg space. We don't want to add a reason for more customers to resent it. E. An airline's business strategy will backfire only if it causes most customers to resent the airline and turn to its competitors. The strategy will backfire even if a big chunk resents the airline. It is not necessary that MOST ( more than 50%) should. Answer (D) Discussion on Assumption Questions: https://youtu.be/O0ROJfljRLU A pair of difficult assumption questions: https://youtu.be/ZQnhC4d5ODU

Business analyst: Since many air travellers choose flights on the basi

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Business analyst: Since many air travellers choose flights on the basi

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