Comments on: Too funny! Airline association claims passengers are not ATMs

By: Mr Bad Example

Mr Bad Example — Sat, 23 May 2009 03:43:04 +0000

@DAC,,
Who sets the fares? Airlines or customer?
Who writes the fare rules?
Who decides where they fly?

ETC ETC, If you guessed Airlines and NOT Customers then you win a prize. Southwest doesn’t seems to have trouble making a profit most times.

The ATA and it’s member airlines have the dubious distinction of having lower customer satisfaction ratings then the IRS. That should tell you all you need to know!!!

By: Frank

Frank — Fri, 22 May 2009 22:53:53 +0000

Anon1 said Please tell me the last time the industry as a whole was profitable post-regulation? Frank? Waiting…NEVER.
We bailed them out on 9/11, and only perpetuated a dying industry.
The airlines need to make a profit, but with concise, clear, and direct pricing,
NOT this nickle and dime BS! Frank you spend your time on this board defending unethical corporations that would not even be in buisness without taxpayer money-FACT. So please spare us the sob stories. Just because the employees are decent people doesn’t mean the corporate structure is decent.
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Profits in this industry are cyclical. How well run they are is a DIFFERENT issue. I dont defend unethical corporations, but, I do have a different perspective on here because of my experience in the industry as an employee. The board is littered with sob (negative) stories so YOU ALL can chime in and whine along with the article.
Wahhhhh, no legroom. Wahhhh, no food. Wahhhhh, baggage fees.

I simply have a different opinion and try to back it up with explanations.
I think what DAC is saying, is that the price of a ticket is already heavily taxed, and as the industry strugggles with it’s losses, now is a horrible time to add more taxes to it’s cost of doing business. After all, an airline IS A BUSINESS.

By: Frank

Frank — Fri, 22 May 2009 22:42:20 +0000

On May 22nd, 2009 at 9:53 am Jake said
Frank – If competition dictates the airfares, perhaps we should just let the unprofitable airlines fail. With reduced competition those remaining could then increase their fares to sustainable levels – problem solved!
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Wait until Southwest enters LGA, BOS and MKE. Fares wont be going UP, Southwest will DECREASE the “yield” in those markets to gain market share. They flood the market with ridiculously low fares to gain it.
Unprofitable airlines? Ha! There’s a graveyard FULL OF THEM. Over a hundred airlines have gone out of business since the 1980’s alone.

By: Carlo

Carlo — Fri, 22 May 2009 21:27:19 +0000

Pot…meet Kettle.

By: Paulette Baker

Paulette Baker — Fri, 22 May 2009 19:28:42 +0000

DAC — Get a grip! You obviously do not understand the meaning of “hypocricy”! When an industry that’s been nickel and diming its customers to death whines about the government increasing fees, THAT’S hypocritical — and funny.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 22 May 2009 18:57:50 +0000

Don’t you think the airlines do market research every day of the year? Of course they know that they can do better with the “fees for everything” approach than by raising fares. There’s some experimentation, obviously, but it’s not based on a whim. The fact is that they are trying to attract a wide variety of types of passengers (as evidenced in microcosm just by the comments on this topic). I would rather have a low fare and decide whether I want to pay for extra amenities, rather than a high fare and subsidize people who demand things I don’t care much about.

By: Anon1

Anon1 — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:07:48 +0000

Shouldn’t the airlines be working for a return to profitability ..

Please tell me the last time the industry as a whole was profitable post-regulation? Frank? Waiting…NEVER.

We bailed them out on 9/11, and only perpetuated a dying industry.
The airlines need to make a profit, but with concise, clear, and direct pricing,
NOT this nickle and dime BS! Frank you spend your time on this board defending unethical corporations that would not even be in buisness without taxpayer money-FACT. So please spare us the sob stories. Just because the employees are decent people doesn’t mean the corporate structure is decent.

By: Jake

Jake — Fri, 22 May 2009 14:53:12 +0000

If the airlines want to make more money, they just need to raise the damn fares, and cut out the out-of-nowhere fees.
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Hear hear!

@Frank – If competition dictates the airfares, perhaps we should just let the unprofitable airlines fail. With reduced competition those remaining could then increase their fares to sustainable levels – problem solved!

By: Frank

Frank — Fri, 22 May 2009 14:07:03 +0000

While the airlines have been adding new fees and increasing them regularly, I found their claim that increasing the passenger facility charge (PFC) for the first time since 2001 from $4.50 to $7 amounts to direct taxation that would depress travel demand.
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Wouldnt it be interesting to know what OTHER TAXES come out of an AIRFARE?

NEXT ARTICLE????

By: Matthew B

Matthew B — Fri, 22 May 2009 14:01:37 +0000

Most US airlines have lost money over the last ten years not because air transportation is unprofitable, but because they choose to finance the majority (and in the case of AA the vast majority) of their assets with debt rather than shareholders’ funds. Southwest finances the majority of its assets with shareholders’ funds and has been profitable for the last thirty-five years. If airlines chose to sell shares to their investors rather than bonds, they would all be making a profit. Airlines lose money because it suits them to do so, and for no other reason.