Originally Posted by
AZFlyer
I'm sure you meant to also mention that they do that because they have to.
Well, no. Nothing in my post indicated that. There is no call for attempting to put words in my mouth.
Originally Posted by
AZFlyer
If Emirates, Singapore, Swiss, Cathay, etc had to actually pay for the services that they offer with only the revenue that they take in from doing business, then they would look much like American carriers, or even worse.
Unless you can show me some reliable numbers, I'm not sure that your assertion would necessarily be true.
Originally Posted by
AZFlyer
On the flipside, if our airlines were heavily subsidized like the best foreign carriers are, you could expect to see such levels of service from America.
There really is no excuse as there are plenty of foreign airlines that are not subsidized, heavily or otherwise (no more than US airlines are subsidized) that still outclass the service level of American airlines by leaps and bounds. Korean, Virgin Atlantic, Brussels, Lufthansa, ANA etc. to name a few.
IMHO, the dismal lack of service with American airlines has mostly to do with the shift in philosophy in management. It used to be that flight ops told management what they needed to run an airline. Instead, management is telling flight ops "this is what you have, make do" and airline management has been going more to hedge funds and Wall St types, as opposed to actual airline oriented people. Also, in the days of regulation, American airlines could only compete with service as prices were set. Now, they're in a race to the bottom. (not saying we should or should not go back to regulation) Yet, I don't see that race to the bottom with the top tier foreign airlines, whether subsidized or not.