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Charles Wheelan, Ph.D. The Naked Economist

Charles Wheelan, Ph.D., The Naked Economist

Grounded: Why the Airlines Need an Overhaul

by Charles Wheelan, Ph.D.

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Posted on Monday, October 15, 2007, 12:00AM

This will be a different kind of column. Usually, I write about things that economics can explain. This time I'll admit that I'm completely befuddled.

I just don't get the airline industry, at least not the traditional carriers that have been around since before deregulation. The new upstarts like Southwest appear to have a model that works -- but that just makes the older carriers look all the more old-fashioned and obtuse.

Fly the Stupid Skies

There are a lot of industries and businesses that I don't thoroughly understand. But they're different from the airlines in two key respects: 1) They don't routinely make my life miserable; and 2) They seem to make a lot of money.

If you've got a business with thriving profits and happy customers, then I'm not going to spend a lot of time wondering about your business model. But the airlines (again excepting the upstarts) don't seem to have happy customers or thriving profits. Indeed, in the process of routinely exasperating a high proportion of travelers, the major airlines continually flirt with (or succumb to) bankruptcy.

So that leads me to wonder if perhaps some of the business decisions in the airline industry seem shortsighted and stupid because they really are.

Opulence or Cramped Squalor

Here are some of the things I don't get:

1. Why is there no "in between" fare option -- something more comfortable than a cattle car but more affordable than business or first class?

I fly a lot, both for business and pleasure. I invariably fly coach, but I've suffered that indignity enough to at least check the business fare. Here's what usually comes back: $299 for economy class or $6,000 for business.

Perhaps that's a slight exaggeration, but the disparity is so large that I don't even contemplate paying the higher fare. That definitely leaves money on the table

I don't need a linen tablecloth or champagne when I get on the plane, but I'd be willing to pay another $100 or $200 for a shorter, more predictable line at check-in and a seat big enough to read the newspaper in without elbowing someone's head.

Time Is of the Essence

2. Why haven't the airlines been more effective in dealing with the biggest cost of air travel: time lost to security and congestion delays?

The price of a coach airline ticket has been plummeting for two decades. But that doesn't necessarily mean that flying is cheaper. For most busy people, the biggest "cost" of travel these days is in the time it takes to stand in long lines and wait for delayed flights. If you're a $500-an-hour consultant and spend two hours stuck in Phoenix, that's a $1,000 problem. The fact that your ticket only cost $99 isn't much consolation.

True, neither security lines nor air traffic are directly the fault of the airlines. The federal government controls both via the TSA and the FAA. But obviously the airlines are big political players. If they had the clout to lobby successfully for huge subsidies from the federal government after 9/11, then presumably they could use the same influence to push the government toward making necessary investments in the air traffic infrastructure.

And it's not just about money; more sensible policies would help, too. Both gates and runway slots ought to be auctioned off, so that the most valuable times at the busiest airports are the most expensive. It should cost more to take off from Chicago at 8 a.m. on a Monday morning than it does from Tulsa at 2 p.m. on a Saturday.

Yes, that means that the Chicago flight would be more expensive. That's exactly as it should be -- the best way to deal with congestion (in the air or on the roads) is to use prices to spread out the demand. That enables a system with fixed capacity to handle more travelers with fewer congestion delays.

Doh!

Meanwhile, at least for me, the frustration of long security lines is compounded by a lingering fear that the screening isn't really very good anyway.

Here's my security scare story. I was flying recently with my two daughters when one of them had a small container of Play-Doh confiscated after her backpack went through the X-ray machine.

That doesn't strike me as unreasonable. I don't know a lot about explosives, but I could see how something really dangerous might have the consistency of Play-Doh. Here's the problem: As we walked away from security, my other daughter turned to me and said, "Dad, why didn't they take away my Play-Doh?"

If you're going to take away dangerous stuff, then get it all. But if you're going to miss half of it, stop wasting my time.

Money for Nothing

3. Does it really make sense in the long run to charge us something for nothing?

Imagine that you've checked into a hotel at a very reasonable, even cheap rate. Further, suppose that by some act of your own stupidity, you lock yourself out of your room. And then, when you present your ID to the front desk, you're informed that there will be a $100 charge for a new key -- nearly as much as the room cost in the first place.

This is a brilliant move by the hotel in the short run. Your possessions are locked inside the room. They've squeezed $100 of incremental revenue out of a plastic replacement key that probably costs five cents or less.

But it's idiocy in the long run -- or so it strikes me. People don't like to pay $100 for something that costs nothing. They feel angry and taken advantage of.

And yet that kind of thing seems to be standard operating procedure for America's traditional airlines. I paid $100 twice in the past week to change a flight from Chicago to Orange County, Calif.; in both cases I was changing my reservation to a flight that had open seats at the same fare.

This should have been a costless transaction. It doesn't cost American Airlines anything to move me from the 1 o'clock flight to the 3 o'clock one. When I paid the $100 change fee (twice) -- admittedly because of my own poor planning on both occasions -- I felt like the guy being charged $100 to get back into his hotel room.

I've been thinking ever since: How could this possibly be good business, especially as I see the new ads from Southwest (one of the post-deregulation carriers willing to break the mold) now advertising how easy it is to change flights without a fee?

Customer Disservice

4. Is it too much to expect just a little more empathy?

I recognize that there are lots of terrific customer service people across the airline industry. I've had many experiences in which someone offers exceptional assistance in a way that feels like being offered a huge glass of cold water while wandering through the desert.

But those experiences stand out. Too often, the customer service agents appear to have had decades of experience in the former East Germany. I suspect that those surly ticket agents and flight attendants aren't really mean people, but rather perfectly normal people beaten down by grinding circumstances.

Isn't there something the high-paid airline executives can do to change that culture? Bad customer service is like the bitter frosting on an awful cake. The only thing worse than a two-hour delay is a customer service agent who growls at you like it's your fault.

Obstacles, Not Insurmountable

The airline industry is a tough business. Regulation prevents or inhibits some of the global consolidation that needs to happen. Airline seats are an "exploding asset," so that once a plane takes off an empty seat becomes worthless. The price of jet fuel has been going steadily in the wrong direction. And the assorted unions are expert at shooting themselves in the foot, if not worse. That much I understand.

But I'm still not convinced that the industry can't do a lot better. Perhaps I'm way off base, in which case I'm sure I'll hear from the friendly folks at the airlines: I once criticized a major airline in print many years ago -- and promptly learned (ironically) that their PR flacks are much more responsive than their customer service agents.

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243 Comments

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  • SeymourS - Monday, October 29, 2007, 4:44AM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    In my opinion, the old airlines suffer from the legacy of oligopoly back in the dark days before deregulation. All the problems the author is describing is something that you expect from a monopoly. Unfortunately, corporate culture cannot change quickly, even before you encounter some legacy straitjackets like the unions. The good news is that market forces seem to be doing a good job of getting rid of the dead wood.

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Monday, October 22, 2007, 6:32PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 4/5

    You are certainly preaching to the converted. Just last week, I checked into a flight that had apparently already been cancelled, but they let me check in all the same. When I got to the gate there was no information, in fact, you could not even tell the flight was supposed to leave from that gate. The airline then booked me on an overbooked flight (they did not tell me it was overbooked). I was subsequently bumped from the second flight. I finally got on the third flight only to have them lose my luggage. I have to fly all of the time and something has to improve. How does an industry survive when their customers hate them?

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Sunday, October 21, 2007, 4:37PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 4/5

    It's not news that the airlines have a twisted sense of "serving their customers". There was a time when airlines seemed to care, and expressed that sentiment by doing nice things like giving significant discounts on same day travel in bereavement situations. No more. Then, when I somehow emerged from that terrible customer service experience with a $100 "service certificate" -- presumably for my trouble in tolerating their less than wonderful handling of a situation -- they further rewarded me with an extra trip to the airport. It was the only place I could go to buy my ticket without giving up my reservation or guaranteed price; I had to actually hand over the certificate, even though I know (and you know) that computers are perfectly capable of tracking the number on that certificate so I can't use it more than once!! Certainly is a disincentive for me to use their generous apology for poor customer service. I guess once they have it; it's like a terrible virus, they just can't shake it, and soon they just learn to live with it and it becomes their way of doing business. Is it time for a customer strike?

  • Andrew - Friday, October 19, 2007, 11:18PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    The VLJ"s will soon change the playing field. For a slight primium (less than the 2Hr $1000 wait) business travelers will soon be rushing to this new option. Too bad for the casual traveler. As the business traveler, the one who really pays the bills, abandon the traditional carriers kife will only get worse for them. The airlines see this and that is why they are trying to stop the spread of business jets. I have over 5 and 1/2 million miles logged with just one airline, and probably another 1/2 million on others. I can't wait to tell them all to tkae a hike.

  • fun in the sun - Friday, October 19, 2007, 3:15PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    The reason for airlines in the USA being so terrible, is that there is no free market. I travel well over 100k miles a year, both domestically, and internationally. US airlines are internationally recognised as the worst in the world. I saw an interview recently with Richard Branson, on the launching of Virgin the USA. He mentioned that he could have started here earlier, if he had "payed to grease the wheels". Yep, that is right, he could have BRIBED his way through government regulation, to have started his airline here years ago. WIth that level of corruption, no wonder the industry is so bad. - Open up the skies, this does not mean having safety standards slip. FAA should audit all airlines, and ground any aircraft considered unsafe. - Let unprofitable airlines go out of business. People will still fly, and many employees will be picked up by new carriers. In Australia, they let their 2nd largest Airline go out of business. Now, airfares are even cheaper, as many airlines have come in to take up the slack. Airlines are businesses. They will do whatever the market allows. Now that they are protected businesses, there is no incentive to improve. Open up the skies, and you will see prices plunge, and service improve.

  • MelG - Friday, October 19, 2007, 1:44PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 4/5

    You did not site some of the worst reasons why we hate the airlines. For example, claiming a flight will go on time when they know it will be delayed by hours. Not to mention being trapped on the plane on the ground. I've been flying on business for 35 years, and it just keeps getting worse. I used to think at some breaking point it would change. Ha. When I can, I take Amtrak, but is is getting worse too.

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Friday, October 19, 2007, 12:30PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 2/5

    The folks that think this is an excellent assessment must not know much about the dynamics of the airline industry. As one pointed out, everybody wants the lowest fare, and demands the same levels of service as 20 years ago. POINT 1: You get what you pay for. Fares are dirt cheap these days, certainly much less than in years past. While the costs of fuel, salaries, airplanes, etc have gone up. Something's gotta give, and that something has become all of the amenities that cost to provide (food, etc). POINT 2: Everybody praises the LCCs like they're saviors or something! They have a business model, and the UAs and DLs of the world have theirs. They're different and not easily interchangeable. Sure UA and DL could become like Southwest, but then that would mean no more flights to Moline or Augusta or the THOUSANDS of other cities like them. POINT 3: Don't be fooled into thinking that all LCC's have some inpenetrable business model that can stand the test of time. Sure, WN has done it, but the jetBlue's and Frontier's of the world are not as sure of a bet. We've seen B6's profits take turns for the worse, and F9 is regularly in trouble...Long story short, YES, there are improvements that can be made. But the answer is not a blanket - "let's everyone become like Southwest".

  • K - Friday, October 19, 2007, 10:02AM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 4/5

    Charles, you will doubtless receive hundreds, if not thousands, of responses from current and former employees of major airlines, providing all sorts of excuses for the reasons why airlines are the way they are ... from heavy-handed regulators, to incompetent management, to overzealous unions, to bureaucratic struggles and turf wars. My response to all of them is this: Your industry had a once-in-a-generation opportunity to revolutionize air travel for the better immediately after 9/11. You could have ripped up your contracts, fare sheets, flight schedules, blown everything up and started anew with a fresh eye toward making consistent profits and pleasing the customer, and virtually no one would have said "boo". What did you do instead? You all queued up in Washington to tell your sob stories to Congress and bang the drum for billions of dollars in no-strings-attached subsidies from taxpayers. So, please, spare us the theatrics. Go out of business - and I mean the Full Monty, turn-out-the-lights, Chapter 7 version - and sell your assets to companies like Virgin, Southwest, and JetBlue who understand what it takes and consistently meet everyone's expectations. And the sooner, the better.

  • Traveler - Friday, October 19, 2007, 1:43AM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    As someone who flies a 100K miles a year on United and others... you're right on. The traditional airlines suck. They're making their employees angry, have stupid policies, and have me looking for a better way. The upstarts have one problem... they don't fly where I need to go. That will change. I can hardly wait.

  • Jd - Thursday, October 18, 2007, 7:09PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 3/5

    If you ignorant open market fools havent grasped reality by now then its probably too late for you anyway. However, if you get your way and we allow the chinese and the indonesian airlines to take flights in American, then the lead paint on childrens toys will look like small potatoes compared to broke down planes, crashes, and planes falling from the sky because of shoddy/incomplete maintenance. And all this because you open market fools want to save five or ten dollars. Our country is littered with reasons to deny the open market fools their chance to outsource another american job, toxic toys, cheap plastic household items that last one week, millions of good paying jobs lost in areas like cleveland, detroit, philadelphia, and my home town, st. louis. Oh yeah, and that service you expect will drop to levels that even you wont believe, if you can understand the pilots broken english when he is telling you that the air traffic controller has told him to go into a holding pattern because he cant understand his english either! God help us all from another round of outsourcing/open market regime. One final note... when every last decent job that pays a fair wage is outsourced who will be left to buy all this cheap crap we are importing, and all these services that these crooked back stabbing corporations are wanting to offer us?

  • WilliamB - Thursday, October 18, 2007, 5:57PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 4/5

    I agree with this article - almost completely. A few things though: Regarding the rudenss of the employees at the legacy carriers (United, American, Delta, and Northwest). They can be pretty nasty and surly. But I don't hold it against them. The only peoole the airlines screw over more than their passengers are their own employees. They take money and benefits from them at every turn. That's why they are nasty and rude! That's why I fly Southwest whenever possible. A note about Southwest, my favorite airline, except for one wee issue. Yes, they advertise they don't charge a change "fee". And they don't. What they DO do, however, is charge you the difference between what you paid and a full price fare on the flight you want to change to. In most cases, this is far more than the 100 bucks charged by the other carriers. Also, on Southwest, there's no such thing as standby. You either pay the fare difference or you wait. Southwest does a lot of things right but not when it comes to switching flights.

  • Janette - Thursday, October 18, 2007, 2:45PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 3/5

    Competition in the airline industry forces carriers to compete on one of two levels, cost or customer experience. The low cost carriers don't upgrade their planes because it eats up profits and the carriers competing on experience can't reduce prices to complete with the low cost carriers. Unless you are willing to pay for the experience you will continue to feel like cattle being shuttled about and get the same level of attention as cattle get.

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Thursday, October 18, 2007, 2:11PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 2/5

    Very old and boring story - the author tells us all of the things that we've heard for so many years! The only way to change the status quo in the airline business, and he did touch on this, is what can we do to entice upper level management to want to improve our transportation experience - how do you motivate them to make the change in culture, to start the process of recognizing and valuing your employees. Management 101 folks. But why? The big guys jump around from company to company pocketing huge sums of money and it doesn't require that they ever demonstrate the basics of Management 101, let alone that they've taken and passed the course!

  • OKGUY - Thursday, October 18, 2007, 12:34PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 4/5

    Very good analysis, except the majors are apparently making money, especially if the can give $218 million to the top 100 people, especially while the others at the largest carrier have taken cuts in pay, benefits and everything else. There is a lot of money there, just not used for the right purposes, now they have successfully demoralized their complete work force because of greed. There is no management there, things just rock along, productivity is in the dirt along with moral while the managers and above are only interested in their next bonus. Smoke machines are blazing with the mirrors set just right so as to look like everything is rosy. Next year will be very interesting to see how they deal with their pilot who ona verage make $175,00 a year with retirements of guaranteed 2 million and they want a 30% raise. Can you say spoiled brats, corporate greed, between them and the upper 1000, I guess the rest of the 90,000 employees wil either lose their jobs or take it in the shorts again. How about putting people to work, actually expect them to be productive, that 20% extra people make them earn their living. How about accountability, from the top down. How about eliminating incompetence, and expect everyone to know and perform their jobs. How about treating everyone with respect like they are keeping the whole company alive, and not stealing the profits to line just a few pockets. They will survive, because of inertia, but there is going to be a hard time ahead. Do you remember Rome?

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Thursday, October 18, 2007, 10:32AM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 3/5

    Generally good points. The customer service issue strikes the airlines individually and the industry collectively. I can, and do, receive excellent customer service in my home town (ITH) yet I can travel to a connecting airport (LGA or PHL) with the same airline and get miserable service. Also at issue, and the carriers are not wholly at fault, is the number of delays. Being stuck on a taxiway for 2 hours because of congestion is enough to make an angry, delayed customer miserable to deal with. What is under the airlines' control is how to handle some of those delays. I no longer count the number of times my final flight home (I live in an admittedly small market) is canceled in favor of a larger-capacity flight going elsewhere. This happens frequently in the US East coast. What annoys me is the overuse of the "weather" excuse when the TV in the very same airport is showing a news channel and their weather segment shows clear skies from start to finish for my flight. I understand the economics of moving a flight with more people out of a ground hold. I don't understand the deception reported to me, the customer, other than to absolve the carrier of responsibility for the cost of dealing with the situation. Compound it further when the carrier informs me that the next flight I can take with a guaranteed seat is more than 24 hours later because all the earlier flights are full. At that point it takes less time for me to rent a car and drive the remainder home. And I'll collect my luggage later. My local taxi service knows me well, and my luggage even better, as they deliver my bag to my home after these debacles. Luggage handling seems as much an issue with unhappy employees as it is a consequence of increased travel. I experience delayed luggage on more than 20% of my travel - and I fly more than 80K miles annually. How many mishandled packages do UPS/FedEx/DHL, etc have, both by numbers of packages and percent of volume? When I fly certain routes, there are airports where I don't want my luggage "handled" as it is all too frequently mishandled. I don't mean damage, I mean misdirected or outright lost for hours or days. I've flown with domestic US carriers and international carriers. Compare the level and kind of service and one wonders how and why the US carriers fail to deliver similar experiences for customers. That one can fly from Austria to Germany and get a complimentary sandwich and beverage while a similar domestic flight of greater duration only rates a 1 oz snack and a half-can of soda or a charge for more food leaves the customer puzzled. And the luggage makes it to the final destination. The disparity doesn't make sense. The US is a leader in many areas but falls woefully behind in others and air travel is one of those areas.

  • tippers14 - Thursday, October 18, 2007, 10:12AM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 2/5

    It's so easy and common these days to fall back on the tired and overused "blame the big bad airlines" cliche. As a elite level traveler for many years my experiences overall have been quite good. Not surprisingly, airlines reward their repeat (elite) customers. Even the lowest tier elite customers can use the elite/first class check-in lines and board the aircraft before general boarding begins. Someone who flies a lot should stick with one airline or alliance to obtain some elite status. It makes all the difference in the world. There are relatively painless ways to make your travel experience more pleasant if one tries. Try those ways rather than whining about it.

  • Mark - Thursday, October 18, 2007, 9:58AM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 4/5

    Overall a very good article that sums up the frustration of flying in 2007. In reference to point #4; yes I agree that at times, customer service agents can be a bit curt. Chicago's "home-town" airline has beat-down and battered its employees since the tragic events of 9/11. Over 20,000 jobs are GONE and yet the number of flights that are operating has returned to pre-9/11 levels. Other then TSA security, customers have very little interaction with an actual airline employee. Checking yourself in, printing your own boarding pass and even generating and tagging your own checked bag has become common place. Employees averaged over a 20% pay cut and benefits were slashed across the board. Today, a veteran ground employee (customer service, baggage/cargo) makes about 80 cents an hour more then they did 10 YEARS ago! NO this is not a typo! Yet the CEO and other executives are reaping tens of millions of dollars and patting themselves on the back for a job well done. Looking at the numbers in Yahoo Finance on how much stock the CEO has sold this year, makes me sick. In the article "culture" of the airline business was mentioned. This is an excellent point. The culture is toxic and a throw-back to how employees were mistreated decades ago. Intimidation and fear is the culture that fuels the airline. Like the saying goes, "garbage in, garbage out". I'm astounded that employees do as good of a job as they do, considering how they are treated by management. This airline has destroyed so many lives since 9/11 and their subsequent bankruptcy. CEO Tilton told employees that if you don't like it here, leave. Compassion and understanding are not his strong character traits. Twenty percent pay cuts, less vacation time, longer work days and let me not forget loosing their pension plan and nearly $100,000 in 401k money. Average, dedicated employees, working hard and just getting by, while Mr. Tilton and other executives are raking in the dough. Exercising stock options and selling those options the very same day for a tidy $100,000 profit, is a slap in the face to each employee who has sacrificed so much. It all comes back to corporate greed. Huge financial win falls for disinterested, oblivious executives made on the backs of and at the expense of the average worker. They don't care for the employees and as far as disgruntled passengers; they know that sooner or later you'll be back. After all, if you're in Chicago and want to fly to say Los Angeles, you only have a handful of airlines to choose from. Even if you jump ship to another carrier, it's only a matter of time that the new carrier will disservice you. The airlines know that it may take a month or 6 months, but you'll be back. Happy employees make happy customers. Treat others the way you'd like to be treated. These are not pie-in-sky theories. This type of new culture is the status quo for many successful companies. Southwest has happy employees and they give back to the company and customers the appreciation and friendliness that management gives them. Unfortunate for Southwest employees is the fact that now THEY are some of the highest paid in the industry. Flying has become more of a hassle then ever before. The long lines and the entire process of just getting to the gate is just aggravating. Where are the innovative CEO's ? I guess their smart enough to know that the airline industry is a job to run away from. That is unless you're looking to line your pockets with tens of millions of dollars.

  • Ron S - Thursday, October 18, 2007, 9:32AM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    Charles is right on with his comments. He is really being nice. I flew last week to JFK. My flight was cancelled and I was able to reschedule for 1.5 hours later. No big deal but at the Jet Blue counter I asked why it was cancelled and the woman looked right at me and said it was cancelled at midnight due to weather conditions. This was an outright lie. There was no weather problems between Florida and New York. Jet Blue had also called me the prevous day at 5:00 PM to tell me the flight was cancelled. I just don't like putting my life in someones hands and having them lie right to my face. What we need to do is decrease the amount of travel. We also need to take the time to complain to our congressman. We need to stop subsidising these jerks and let them go out of business. If we let the airline industry keep going the way it is we will have an issue like the credit industry.

  • Oren - Thursday, October 18, 2007, 9:09AM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 3/5

    i've been living overseas in Asia and the Middle East for the past 10 years and in this region several airlines have great "in-between" options. EVA Airlines of Taiwan, for instance, has Economy Plus. The seat pitch is 38", a separate cabin, upgraded food, and wider seats-it isn't business class (which I only fly when I have enough miles) but it's a great alternative and on an TPE-SFO round trip flight, it is only about $300 more than economy and well worth it. Thai Air and Asiana also have these in between classes. Why the US airlines don't pick up on this, I can't answer, but having flown dozens of times on EVA, the Economy Plus section was always full or nearly full.

  • andrew - Thursday, October 18, 2007, 2:31AM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 1/5

    So many misconceptions, factual errors and cliches about an industry in just a few paragraphs. Perhaps when you have to begin a piece by saying you 'don't understand' and you're 'befuddled', you could stop and ask yourself why. Before going on. Where to begin? Fact, the airlines--American and United, those chosen by the 9/11 hijackers, and Delta, Northwest etc, never got any of the 'bailout' voted by Congress.The Bush administration appointed a three-crony board who ensured the money would never be dispensed. One by one, the majors went bankrupt. Only USAir and America West saw any of the funds; both linked to the Bush family; then the time limit expired. One of the quickest ways to check a reporter's cred--and IQ--is whether he/she repeats the 'bailout' myth. By the way, Southwest, a great airline supplying its niche markets, is not some bold new entry. It's been around since before you were probably born. The overworked counter and gate agents we meet are now making around $11 an hour. By comparison, the local supermarket is advertising at $14, and Home Depot at $16. What the financial press never seems able to retain in long term memory is that airline economics is all about oil, oil, oil, and, oh yes, oil. Taxes and labor are trivial in comparison. Today, $88 a barrel. Lots of other errors to correct, but who has time to be a volunteer editor?

  • shelley - Wednesday, October 17, 2007, 11:13PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 2/5

    Coming from the customer service side of this issue.... I work for an amazing airline where customer service is top notch. However, there are certain people in this world who are not happy with anything you try to do for them. You can give them everything they ask for and it still is not enough. These are the people who make our jobs the hardest. When I ask them what else I can do for them and they tell me "nothing." It is a very unpleasant situation for everyone. so certain things i agree 100%, others you also have to look at it from the other side. There really is no compromise between the two. You either give everyone everything and every airline goes under or you have to set limits. When people fly an airline youj need to do your homework on what things are covered luggage wise and what kinds of comensation is given out for different situations. We cannot give out seats that are not there and we cannot cover every little dent and scratch on a bag especailly when most times the bags are already dented and scuffed before being put into our care. Its just like buying a car, you need to read EVERYTHING before you buy.

  • ThomasH - Wednesday, October 17, 2007, 10:26PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    I could not have said it better. You are right on.

  • santa - Wednesday, October 17, 2007, 10:05PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    in how many ways the airlines can say , we don't care. give us your money and shut up

  • James - Wednesday, October 17, 2007, 8:40PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    An excellent article, calling a spade a spade.

  • MichaelF - Wednesday, October 17, 2007, 6:29PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    A copy of this article should be emailed or sent to every CEO and head of the customer service department of every air carrier in the U.S.

  • mrsessie - Wednesday, October 17, 2007, 6:26PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    Well-said! As far as the Nazi-fied employees go, I'd like to say that my friendly, outgoing, college-educated (teacher) sister was denied placement with Continental in any capacity because she did not meet the personality profile. She's just not mean enough!

  • Costas - Wednesday, October 17, 2007, 5:51PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    I would gladly pay more for my ticket just for some service. I'm fed up of being treated like fodder.Airlines are the worst offenders in the service industry.

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Wednesday, October 17, 2007, 5:23PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    Thanks for voicing the feelings from all the silent suffering travellers. I can tell the ones who differ were/are employees of the airlines. All airlines except for Southwest, do not have econosense. I read other comments about airlines charging change fees, when they have everything to gain like a freed up seat on an overbooked flight. If this isn't the height of exploitation, enlighten me on what else is ? Since the past decade, the quality of goods and services has been diluted to such an extent that a decent degree of quality is being offered at a hefty premium! Not too long ago this was part of "normal" quality of goods/services. We have helped breed a generation of B School individuals, whose only smart ideas for running corporations seem to be to chop goods/services into ridiculous components for pricing. The airline industry is no different, except it gleefully stands out in the pig headed lot of such industries, with an unabashed arrogance in not paying attention to customers.

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Wednesday, October 17, 2007, 5:12PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 4/5

    First off, you hit the nail on the head. but also don't forget about the pilots. they are being treated worse than you are. my daddy is a co-pilot for alaska airlines. right now, filling up our truck with a tank of deisel tugs at our wallets. Management at Alaska Airlines is so messed up. They took away 42% of my dads pay. They treat our pilots like rat trash and expect them to carry 200 lives in their hands every day. wow. also, when they laid off alot of the people working on the ground, they hired a bunch of people that can barely speak english and dont have to go through security. they could easily plant a bomb if they wanted too.

  • Derek Y - Wednesday, October 17, 2007, 4:50PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 4/5

    You missed a key gripe ... airplanes these days are very, very DIRTY ... seats are sprinkled with crumbs, arm-rests and trays are bacteria coated, and the air circulation systems propogate viral sickness. I would love to see an airline that now only offers a comfortable seat with fresh food and friendly service, but a CLEAN environment that doesn't result in a cold 50% of the time.

Showing comments 6-35 of 243<< PreviousNext >>
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