Usually folks get paid more when their employer turns a profit.

B

I'm thinking that air travel is simply more expensive than airlines are having people pay. Fuel is not getting cheaper, pilots are expensive (and they should be), safety regulations (and insurance I'm sure) add a lot of costs that Greyhound and Amtrak don't need to pay. I'm thinking that air travel costs more than people are paying. Please correct me if I'm wrong (Pilot's union eating it up ? FAA prohibits competition ?)

If this is the case, the airlines are always going to be losing money until they get some kind of .gov handout on a recurring basis....or start charging more.

(making small private airlines more competitive...)

On topic - I agree that the government really can't do anything to make airlines easier to live with - all those fines just drive up the cost of flying - and its already pretty expensive

(I'm biased because I'd rather drive anyway...)

-John

Actually, until the latest runup in fuel prices, the airlines were doing acceptably well. All of them were turning a profit. The reason is largely due to 86% load factors..........a number that is absolutely phenomenal if one realizes that it's systemwide.

The fares that they are charging allow them to earn a small profit on the effort. The number of seats is not too high and the fare wars are not happening in a big way.

..........but, with fuel climbing to over $2.00..........this can't be good........

Or as the airlines go:

Usually folks at the top get paid more when their company turns a profit. And sometimes, even when it doesn’t. :rolleyes:

..........the airlines hardly have dibs on that deal.........:o

Yep.....ya got that right.....

That's how we held onto the great corporate pilots/crews/staff we had. None of the long term folks (14 total here for 5 years plus) looked to move up to any airline gig. We all shared the profits. Unlike most corporations, when we retired, so did they (if they so desired).

That's one of the things we’re still most proud of.

Yeah, that's a sad fact, isn't it? When corporations get so big that the board of directors and officers can ignore investors and ignore employees the company inevitably declines in profitability and innovation -- it's just a cash cow to be milked.

Are there any airlines that don't follow that stupidest of strategies?

SWA seems to be pretty good at keeping their employees happy.

I know (and hang out with) lots of airline folks, and that's by far the one airline with the fewest disgruntle employees that I’m aware of.

(say what you will about their service - I'm just talking employees there that I know and/or hear about)