They average 12 day months at SWA. I suspect if you look at all DAL domestic fleets, we cannot make that same assertion.

DAL prices its product at very little above cost. IOW we wholesale the ticket and try to make our money by all the ancillary fees. Dickson's letter says DAL gets $450 from AMEX for every skymiles credit card sold. Give me a little more of the action and I'll hawk the cards on my days off.

AMEX has been great for DAL, but honestly I dont know why a savvy consumer would go the AMEX route - fees, high interest if not paid off, blackout dates, etc. If they can afford to kick back $450/card, its even a worse deal for the consumer than I am capable of delving into. Our airline seems to be a marketing vehicle for adjuct businesses with fewer rewards coming to the company. IOW why dont we insource all the adjunct business, we have the scale to do it.

I am pleased DAL is paying off debt. 2-3 more profitable quarters and lower debt will result in a credit rating upgrade and wall street will respond favorably. Severing ties with the ticket mills will help us regain pricing power. If we can reel in our outsourcing and actually control our quality (rather than lipservice it) this might once again be a top company to work for due to the prospects available to employees.