"Government demands all-out attack on airlines"

[PhilDernerJr]

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/dec2002/ua-d07.shtml

This is an old article that I just came across. I've said this before, but if anything, it's the opposite of what this person is saying. The airline industry needs an airline to die to recover. The problem is that the government keeps bailing out airlines (like United especially!!!).

United should have died long ago.

[Midnight Mike]

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/dec2002/ua-d07.shtml

This is an old article that I just came across. I've said this before, but if anything, it's the opposite of what this person is saying. The airline industry needs an airline to die to recover. The problem is that the government keeps bailing out airlines (like United especially!!!).

United should have died long ago.

Phil, I hear what you are saying, but, the Government is not bailing the airlines, the airlines are abusing the bankruptcy rules, which were meant to actually assist companies with reorganizing & not the way the airlines have been abusing the system for years.

The Congress just re-wrote the bankruptcy laws, hopefullly that will help....

[ecuavion]

It's a shame that so may airlines have used abused these laws and dragged themselves and the industry through dirt in the process..

[FlyingColors]

We should have NEVER abolished airline REGULATION.

Everyone had a slice of the pizza and airlines mainly competed with service, service and more service.

It all goes back to the old adage "Service costs"

[Midnight Mike]

We should have NEVER abolished airline REGULATION.

Everyone had a slice of the pizza and airlines mainly competed with service, service and more service.

It all goes back to the old adage "Service costs"

Deregulation was a good thing for the consumer, it gives us more choices, & creates competition.

You can not compare the service during pre-regulation with the present day airlines.

More aircraft are flying now and the mystique of flying has eroded over the years.

The problems with the airlines are generally internal problems. Combination of greedy unions & incompetent management, case in point, United Airlines.

The UAL Corporation used to own Hotels & Rental Car companies, the unions pressured UAL to diverse their holdings.

Strike in the 1980's cost UAL a billion dollars, in todays dollar, triple that number.

Employee buyout (the unions eventually awarded themselve industry leading wage increases)

Failed merger with US Airways

Summer of 2000 blues, many flights had to be cancelled, during the summer season, due to employee problems. United lost many customers due to these problems & United offered the pilots a 48% pay increase, with 28% up-front.....

External Forces:
SARS, 9/11, increase in fuel prices.

[FlyingColors]

"Deregulation was a good thing for the consumer, it gives us more choices, & creates competition"

NO WAY!
As a consumer I lived this era.
There were plenty of choices, as stated before, CAB kept it that way.
And made it so there was not a frenzy of wild eyed entrepreneurs that wished to take over the planets air transportation single handed like Pan Am, Braniff, AirFlorida, and so many others that just went berserk after de-regulation.
Sure at the time you could find deals for as little as 100 US round trip to Europe. But at what cost? It wiped out thousands of jobs and pensions. It was yet another example of the great American dream passing away. Now no one could ever be comfortable in this industry and say, well some day I'll retire and have my pension. Sad.

And where are we with service? Its some of the worst yet.
Overbooked flights, rude cabin staff, horrible luggage treatment, inhuman seating floor plans, lack of personal especially at check in, is for the most part the normal routine.
Airlines price gouging one another, and what about the maintenance issue? They all have to cut costs. Sure we know whats on paper but you know as well as I all the "little things" that can get overlooked, delayed, postponed.

Sure there is a few shiny ones out there, jetBlue, Southwest, Midwest. But they are not a world wide carriers.
Majors need tons of dollars and equipment to serve on a global scale. Diverse aircraft, crews, spares, hubs send costs into the millions above the economic carriers.