Originally Posted by
jonnyjetprop
Air travel today is bought and sold much like a commodity. Do you buy a brand of sugar or salt, or do you buy the cheapest bag at the store. There is no real difference between the carriers. It has come down to who is the lowest cost provider. Labor is a big cost and therefore wages will always be under pressure.
Johnnyjetprop -
You seem to share the same feelings towards this idea as someone else who recently sent me the following e-mail. This was part of a response sent after forwarding the story/picture of the obese passenger (in another thread). This person is a frequent air traveler but in not connected to the aviation industry in any way. I just thought his comments about Airlines being "public utitlities' were in line what you said. Your thoughts?
Need to reinstitute government regulation. Yes, that is what I said. Airlines are actually public utilities and need to be handled that way and when they were, things worked well. This dog eat dog competition has made things less safe etc in a bunch of ways and in reality is a fiction. As you said they need to charge the real cost of a ticket but they can't in the current environment. The free market always exacts a price and frequently the price is mediocrity since it operates on the basis of the lowest common denominator. If there had been no kings, princes, et al. there would be no great works of art, music, architecture, literature. Its not about excellence or even real value, its about getting the dumbest most venial bastard you know to part with his money and giving him as little as you can for it..
USMCFLYR