When we went to flag ops I had a standards guy crowing to me about how much money it would save. I asked him if they calculated the increased divert rate and he reluctantly said no.
When we first went to flag on the 777 I flew an HKG-MEM, rereleased, with no alternate. This is in summertime. I pointed out to the captain that we were relying on weather that would be 18 hours old when we got there. We quit doing that after an Asia 777 flight diverted to Dallas.
I sure hope the story that started this thread is true. But I'm pretty pessimistic that even Fred won't stop our trajectory. The sad but undeniable truth is - Valujet made scads of money. Right up until the crash. Nobody's ever SEEN the margins they were earning, and the stock went through the roof. Again.... Right up until the crash.....