Is this the kitchen sink for airline CEOs?

TrooperBari · Dec 15, 2014

http://www.hawaiianair.com/Specialoffers/Pages/SOS-Now.aspx

An Open letter to All Airline Customers:

Our country is facing a possible sharp economic downturn because of skyrocketing oil and fuel prices, but by pulling together, we can all do something to help now.

For airlines, ultra-expensive fuel means thousands of lost jobs and severe reductions in air service to both large and small communities. To the broader economy, oil prices mean slower activity and widespread economic pain. This pain can be alleviated, and that is why we are taking the extraordinary step of writing this joint letter to our customers.

Since high oil prices are partly a response to normal market forces, the nation needs to focus on increased energy supplies and conservation. However, there is another side to this story because normal market forces are being dangerously amplified by poorly regulated market speculation.

Twenty years ago, 21 percent of oil contracts were purchased by speculators who trade oil on paper with no intention of ever taking delivery. Today, oil speculators purchase 66 percent of all oil futures contracts, and that reflects just the transactions that are known. Speculators buy up large amounts of oil and then sell it to each other again and again. A barrel of oil may trade 20-plus times before it is delivered and used; the price goes up with each trade and consumers pick up the final tab. Some market experts estimate that current prices reflect as much as $30 to $60 per barrel in unnecessary speculative costs.

Over seventy years ago, Congress established regulations to control excessive, largely unchecked market speculation and manipulation. However, over the past two decades, these regulatory limits have been weakened or removed. We believe that restoring and enforcing these limits, along with several other modest measures, will provide more disclosure, transparency and sound market oversight. Together, these reforms will help cool the over-heated oil market and permit the economy to prosper.

The nation needs to pull together to reform the oil markets and solve this growing problem.

We need your help. Get more information and contact Congress by visiting www.StopOilSpeculationNow.com.
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WS · Jul 9, 2008

I got the same thing from Delta, since I've got 1,000 flyer points and all.

playthrough · Jul 9, 2008

I got that from Delta and was waiting for the punch line: "...in response to all this oil hoo-hah, we are tripling all fares and canceling the cheapies you bought six months ago, smart guy."

Armchair_QB · Jul 9, 2008

Sounds like it was written by one of Singleton's HR guys.

Ben_Hecht · Jul 10, 2008

I'll defend the airlines here, to the extent that we all know that with each $20 fare bump, more marginal leisure customers are driven out of the marketplace.

It's not anticapitalist to observe that the margin requirements for oil futures trading are
dirt-cheap.

DanOregon · Jul 10, 2008

It's like a spork in the eye...

buckweaver · Jul 10, 2008

All I know is I've got my fucking fingers crossed that AirTran doesn't cancel all flights for the days I'm flying home for my sister's wedding in October. I bought tickets months ago, and I'm holding out hope that the airline will still exist and I'll at least have a plane to catch.

They sent me an e-mail on Friday to change my flight times (and essentially rob us of the final day of our trip, moving the departure time from the 7 p.m. I was looking forward to, to 11:30 a.m. instead.) I called today to "decline" the changes, and they said they had no other flights available that day to offer me. So, now I'm stuck leaving a lot earlier than I want to, but what can I do except get a refund and then spend twice as much booking a flight on a different airline -- or taking it?

Fuckheads.

Football_Bat · Jul 10, 2008

This is a PR coup ... by Southwest and only Southwest, which locked in way-cheaper fuel prices years ago.

HackyMcHack · Jul 10, 2008

Delta pulled out of my hometown this week. And I was holding a ticket to go home for Christmas, paid for by Skymiles.....

At least I can fly in semi-cheaply to an airport an hour away.

suburbia · Jul 10, 2008

Football_Bat said:

This is a PR coup ... by Southwest and only Southwest, which locked in way-cheaper fuel prices years ago.
Click to expand...

Southwest will have to pay the piper eventually too.....

Football_Bat · Jul 10, 2008

suburbia said:

Football_Bat said:

This is a PR coup ... by Southwest and only Southwest, which locked in way-cheaper fuel prices years ago.
Click to expand...

Southwest will have to pay the piper eventually too.....
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... but not till 2010, and who knows what the price will be after the oil bubble inevitably pops?

http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/other/06/13/0613swa.html

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Is this the kitchen sink for airline CEOs?

TrooperBari Well-Known Member

WS Member

playthrough Moderator Staff Member

Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

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Is this the kitchen sink for airline CEOs?

TrooperBari Well-Known Member

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playthrough Moderator Staff Member

Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

Ben_Hecht Active Member

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buckweaver Active Member

Football_Bat Well-Known Member

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