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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.
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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.
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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.­cPremises:

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
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