I feel it is still gambling, and too risky, especially when the people on the other side of the trade are basically criminal market manipulators.

Not hedging has been Dougie's strategy, and right now he looks like a genius. But what if the price goes up? It's not really gambling, but more like insurance. I have no problem with it personally. It's just a cost of doing business when you spend the kinds of money we do on fuel. Sometimes you are the windshield, sometimes you're the bug. We own a refinery. We are on the other side of that table now.

I agree with you on the traders being market manipulators for their gain. Funny thing is some of those firms are now being forced to take delivery of oil contracts they paid close to $90 for. They are scrambling to find ships to store the oil in until prices come back up.

Storage issues are going to be what runs prices down to the $20's. Most forecasts have oil at $35 in June. Even with all the idled rigs, capacity is still increasing in the U.S. as companies are pumping as fast as they can to try and get it at $45 to pay debt and avoid bankruptcy. The worst is really yet to come in the U.S. oil industry.

The refinery doesn't insulate us from the cost of crude to refine though. It just insulates us from the crack spread which isn't much right now. Still a good move in my opinion over the long term as oil will eventually go higher and crack spreads will increase.

I'll bet if we saw the average fuel cost over the last decade between Delta which hedges and AA which does not, they would be very close. Not sure on that, but hedging just takes some volatility out of it. We never see the figure on what hedging saves us, just on what we lose when it doesn't save us.

Somewhat of a semantic argument. We are able to negotiate directly for the price of crude rather than be dependent on the market and the crack spread. We cut out the middle man with the refinery. Yes, you are correct that the crack spread is the main determinate in the ultimate price of jet fuel, but unlike any other carrier, we have a way to negotiate on the raw material. They have to take the retail product whereas we do not.

How does one get from the terminal to the GO? I know there's a bus, but can't remember where to catch it.

Thanks for the help!

I think it's downstairs out front every 30 min or so...

thanks, wag!

Go downstairs (below domestic baggage claim) and there are 2 stops. One near the big metal penguin, and another about 100 yards North of there on the same sidewalk. You're looking for a bus that says GO or GOE.

dup post....