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Assignment 7A- Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

Assignment 7A- Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1 

Direct Flights from Gainesville to New York and vice verse
  • Opportunity: Thousands of students from the University of Florida are from the North, or New York to be more general.  Currently, there are only connecting flights from the Gainesville Airport or a two hour drive to Orlando or Jacksonville. 
  1. The Who:  College Students who need to fly to New York 
  2. The What:  They are unable to easily fly to New York to get home, and spend more money on connecting flights to avoid a two hour drive.  
  3. The Why:  The Gainesville Airport is too small, as well as the planes.
  • Testing the Who: Not just college students have this need; residents in Gainesville may need to get to New York as well as it is a popular destination.  Therefore, the who is not limited at all.  It can be college students, residents of Gainesville, college students parents looking to visit their children, prospective freshman of the university, etc.  
  • Testing the What:  The boundaries of the need at the moment are undetermined.  There are many other destinations in which the Gainesville airport only provides connecting flights to.  For some people, this may not be an issue in that they like shorter flights, getting off the plane to walk around, etc. 
  • Testing the Why:  Connecting flights are way more expensive then direct flights.  With connecting flights, there is also layover time, causing the trip to take up more than half the day.  A lot of people agreed with these why's I mentioned above.  
Interview #1: Cassidy 
  • I decided to interview my friend Cassidy because she is from New York as well.  I am so happy I did because she brought up way more "whys" than I was thinking of before.  She discussed how the connecting flights are very expensive, but assured me she is more mad about how much longer it takes her to get home to her family.  She also brought up a really good point/ why.  She stated " you know this is the reason why a lot of people decide to not attend the University of Florida, because it is so hard to get to." 
Interview #2:  Jamie 
  • In this interview, Jamie became enraged.  As soon as I asked her about the opportunity regarding direct flights from Gainesville, she had a lot to say.  Firstly, she said prior to starting school here in Gainesville she was unaware there was even a Gainesville airport.  She disregarded this because her parents rented a car and drove the 2 hours to Orlando back and forth.  Additionally, she said the prices are way too high, and her father does not like her traveling on the small planes.  Therefore, she has brought her car to school so she can drive to Orlando airport to get home, something she becomes anxious about each time she is supposed to go home. 
Interview #3:  Jack 
  • This interview was particularly interesting in that I interviewed my 16 year old brother, Jack.  Jack knows nothing about airports, and quite frankly is scared of planes.  However, he has been dying to visit and attend a tailgate.  I do not have a car though, making me unavailable to get him, and my parents will not let him take a connecting flight to Gainesville in that they do not believe he is capable.  Therefore, he was angry about the price, the time, and mainly the fact that despite the plane ticket, he'd have to pay $250 for an uber.  
Interview #4:  Marybeth Solomon 
  • I decided to interview my mom, to see a college student's perspective on the opportunity at hand.  She stated, she would be so much happier if there were direct flights from Gainesville to New York.  Rather than talk about price, she stated the issue is safety.  She does not like the fact that on my way home, I have to get on two separate flights.  She gets nervous that there will be delays, resulting in me missing my flight and being stuck in Charlotte alone. 
Interview #5:  Renata 
  • Finally, I decided to interview someone who I didn't think would have a strong opinion on the matter, and I was right.  Renata, is from Florida and drives home at the end of each semester.  She did state she feels bad for us New Yorkers who have to go through all this trouble of booking connecting flights, or traveling the whole day, however she said she is simply not effected by it.  Therefore, she really wouldn't notice whether Gainesville started to provide direct flights to New York or not.  
Given your interviews, what do you know about the opportunity that you didn't know before? 
  • After conducting numerous interviews, I learned a lot more about the opportunity at hand.  The prospective customers goes far beyond college students from New York, in that their family is a major customer as well.  However, I did realize that there is a huge cut off regarding college students from Florida. More than half of the students at the University are from Florida, and have no need for this problem to be solved.  I am left to decide whether or not I think my prototypical customer base is big enough to implement such a change.  

Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 24, 2018 at 3:55 PM

    Hi Sarah! I recently had this issue. Gainesville flights are SO much for expensive that Orlando flights. But it's so annoying to pay for Orlando airport parking. I fell bad for New York students, therefore I think there is definitely an opportunity here. When it comes to connecting flights, there's always so much room for error.

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