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The failing airline industry

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Smasher_Sloan, Jun 13, 2008.

  1. PopeDirkBenedict

    PopeDirkBenedict Active Member

    In terms of making flights cheaper, would it make a difference if foreign carriers were allowed to offer even limited domestic flights?
     
  2. Iron_chet

    Iron_chet Well-Known Member

    No becaue they are still chasing the same customers and their costs would not be any lower. Throw in the fact that they would not be able to get preferred landing times at the busiest airports and they would have a tough time competing. Manu Euro carriers are in trouble as well.

    Bydesign thanks for the correction - got SWA mixed up with Delta where only the pilots are unionized.
     
  3. Lugnuts

    Lugnuts Well-Known Member

    No, because the oil companies also have the airlines by the balls.

    A friend who travels weekly tells me he's had more flights canceled in the last 6 months than the last 5 years combined.

    Sometimes they blame the weather - sometimes they don't offer up an excuse.
     
  4. Smasher_Sloan

    Smasher_Sloan Active Member

    The best excuse is a "mechanical problem." That way instead of getting mad, you're relieved that they're not flying the thing with a loose wing or something. Psychology.
     
  5. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    Back in the day, if they said "mechanical problem", I'd fire off a letter to customer service and get something in return -- miles at worst, usually a travel voucher. A few months ago I did the same thing (they claimed mechanical but like you said, smasher, it could have been a lie) and got nothing. Their form letter all but said "you'll get nothing and like it!"
     
  6. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    Funny how full flights never seem to have mechanical problems.
     
  7. dreunc1542

    dreunc1542 Active Member

    My flight was delayed for two hours this past week for that exact reason.

    Oh, and on a 45 minute flight between Paris and London on British Airways they served a full meal. Also, they have plenty of leg space in coach even for someone who's 6'3. Best airline I've ever been on by miles.
     
  8. HC

    HC Well-Known Member

    I slept in the Newark airport food court last night because the plane coming from Toronto that would turn around and fly us back to TO was delayed by thunderstorms. They elected to cancel my flight rather than have us leave late. And since they blamed the weather, they didn't have to accomodate us in any way ... no hotel, no food vouchers, not even someone explaining exactly what was going on. Those of us in line pooled our information to figure out what was going on.

    They didn't even fucking apologize.
     
  9. Lugnuts

    Lugnuts Well-Known Member

    HC - Sorry about that. What airline?
     
  10. steveu

    steveu Well-Known Member

    Uh, Southwest tried that already. Funny how the weight-challenged population can whip out a can of whoop-ass so quickly.
     
  11. Captain_Kirk

    Captain_Kirk Well-Known Member

    For the legacy carriers, part of their problem was getting too fat and happy in good or ok times. Costs, including labor wages, went too high, and the blame can be shared equally between management and unions on that front. Then, the Southwests and Jet Blues come in, and the legacies have to much cost to be able to compete.

    The bigger piece to me, though, is the whole commodity pricing mentality, and the industry's standard operating procedure to mimic everyone else's pricing. We purchase very few things based solely on price; instead, we evaluate features and consider pricing trade offs. Instead of perhaps focusing on features where a customer might pay a premium--say, extra leg room, free drinks, market an industry leading on time arrival or fewest cancellations record, it's strictly price match, price match, price match.

    And unfortunately for the airlines, they've done this for so long that they have conditioned the flying public in a Pavlovian manner to make their flight selection based almost soley on price.
     
  12. bydesign77

    bydesign77 Active Member

    To be fair, they probably cancelled because the crew that was coming in on that plane was the crew to turn and go to where you were going. If they were delayed and it was late, they might have gone over the time constraints the FAA places on them. Not the greatest reason, but that's what happens with weather. I see it all the time.
     
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