Monday, June 23, 2008

Airlines Shooting Own Feet. United Ahead On Points

From MSNBC;

United Airlines to require minimum stays

No. 2 U.S. carrier also raising cheapest fares by as much as $90 one-way

From Practical Pablum :
Have they forgotten that they are modes of transportation and not hotels? that is like a taxi driver refusing to pick you up until you have spent three hours at the party. Does it not occur to them that regardless of when, people who fly somewhere pretty much always need to go back at some point? I don't see how this solves the fuel issue at all. I mean, if I go to Chicago, I still need to come home whether it is the next day or the next week, and I'm thinking that me staying over for more days doesn't change the amount of gas used in hauling my butt back home. And the disadvantage to business travelers is completely ridiculous. Does a salesman deserve to miss out on time with his family just because his job requires travel and the asshat airlines are demanding he stays in Toledo over the weekend? If I worked at any sort of company where travel was involved I would immediately start implementing any changes possible (telecommunications for example) that would reduce if not eliminate all travel just to say "suck it" to the airlines.
The "asshat airlines" have a tremendous problem and I have sympathy for their vulnerability to oil prices. Consumers have to pay high fuel prices also and they will understand the rising costs. But for the airlines to decide to just make things harder as well as more expensive is idiocy of the first order. If ticket prices are too low just suck it up and raise them. I believe thye must be getting advice from that guy in the Comcast advertisements who once read a book about business school.

They even have the Instapundit wishing for fast trains.

1 comment:

lonek8 said...

nice call on the Comcast ads - those are so funny. Oh, and of course in your genius choice of quoteable blogs!