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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?
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
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| Since many air travelers choose flights on the basis of fares posted online, Skyways Airlines now charges for many formerly complimentary services. |
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| Since these charges are not included in posted fares, the fares are lower, making the flights appear cheaper to customers shopping online. |
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| However, Skyways' strategy will inevitably backfire. |
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| Customers facing unexpected charges on flights will resent the airline and turn to its competitors. |
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The analyst first explains Skyways' current strategy (unbundling services to make fares appear lower online), then argues this will ultimately fail because customers will get angry about unexpected charges and switch to competitors.
Skyways' strategy of charging separately for formerly free services will inevitably backfire.
The argument assumes that customers will encounter these charges as unexpected surprises rather than being adequately informed beforehand. If customers knew about all the fees upfront, they might not feel deceived and wouldn't necessarily resent the airline or switch to competitors.
Assumption - We need to find what the analyst must believe for their argument to work. The analyst concludes that Skyways' strategy will backfire because customers will face unexpected charges, get angry, and switch to competitors.
The analyst makes a definitive claim about future behavior - that the strategy will 'inevitably' backfire and customers 'will' resent the airline and turn to competitors. This is a strong prediction about customer reactions and market consequences.
For assumption questions, we identify ways the conclusion could fail while respecting the given facts. The conclusion depends on customers getting angry about unexpected charges and switching airlines. We need to think about what must be true for this chain of events to happen - what gaps exist between the premises and conclusion that need to be filled?
'At least some of Skyways Airlines' competitors charge separately for one or more formerly complimentary services.' This doesn't need to be true for the analyst's argument to work. The analyst's conclusion is that customers will resent Skyways and turn to competitors because of unexpected charges. Whether competitors also charge separately is irrelevant - what matters is that customers face unexpected charges from Skyways and get angry about it. Even if all competitors used the same strategy, customers could still resent Skyways.
'When unexpected charges for services are included, the average cost of flights on Skyways Airlines is higher than that on most competing airlines.' The analyst's argument doesn't require Skyways to be more expensive overall. The prediction is that customers will resent unexpected charges and switch airlines, regardless of whether the total cost ends up being higher or lower than competitors. Customer resentment could occur even if Skyways' total cost is competitive.
'If Skyways Airlines did not charge separately for formerly complimentary services, few customers would resent the airline or turn to its competitors.' This reverses the logic and isn't required. The analyst argues that charging separately will cause resentment, but doesn't need to assume anything about what would happen if they didn't charge separately. The argument is about the consequences of the current strategy, not about alternative scenarios.
'At least some customers who buy Skyways Airlines' tickets incorrectly assume that the fares include certain complimentary services.' This is exactly what the argument requires. For customers to face 'unexpected charges' and 'resent the airline,' they must have initially assumed these services were included in their fare. If customers knew upfront that services cost extra, the charges wouldn't be unexpected and wouldn't trigger the predicted resentment and switching behavior. This assumption is essential for the analyst's conclusion to hold.
'An airline's business strategy will backfire only if it causes most customers to resent the airline and turn to its competitors.' This sets an unnecessarily high threshold ('most customers') that the analyst doesn't require. The argument could work even if only some customers resent the airline and switch - this could still constitute the strategy 'backfiring.' The analyst doesn't need to assume that majority resentment is the only way for a strategy to fail.