Article

2008-08-07 -Signs, Portents, and the Weather-

Airlines to cut 60m seats for Christmas - They' re in a death spiral

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Posted by GolfBravoUSMC 2008-08-07 16:30|| || Front Page|| [11128 views ] Top

#1 Make the seats more comfortable and the flight attendants pretty and friendly again or get rid of them altogether in favor of videos.

Personally I think someone should come up with a ferry-style zeppelin. Drive your car onto it and enjoy the ride. It'll be longer but more comfortable and more scenic than a plane and when you arrive at your destination your car will be there as well. Yeah there will be difficult security issues but it would be a very cool way to see the Grand Canyon and the Southern Deserts.

Posted by rjschwarz 2008-08-07 17:26|| 2008-08-07 17:26|| Front Page Top

#2 Any predictions as to whether the 3500 fewer planes will be older gas guzzlers, or new orders being cancelled?
with neg cash flow, i expect more cnx's than old airframe retirements.

there have been no press releases (AFAIK) from BCAC about cancellations (or deferrals) as yet.

Posted by USN, Ret. 2008-08-07 17:37|| 2008-08-07 17:37|| Front Page Top

#3 Trains are the most energy efficient transportation. Now if only we had a choice other than the morons at Amtrak.

Posted by 3dc 2008-08-07 18:40|| 2008-08-07 18:40|| Front Page Top

#4 Something DEFINITELY has to change in this situation. Flying today is just a miserable experience from the minute you get up to go to the airport to the minute you get to your actual destination. Rude, surly, uncaring staff, minimum-wage fascists at the TSA, jam-packed planes, chairs that don't provide as much room as a coffin would, bad or no food, late flights, missed connections...flying just sucks.

Both the workers and the people they "serve" hate the process with a passion. Many people with any choice would, have, and will continue to go a long way out of their way to avoid being exposed to it. It is a rare case where a successful business model involves a clientele that truly hates doing business with a service provider, and that is the situation the airlines are now in. It will get worse before it gets better.

Posted by Hupiling the Galactic Hero1106 2008-08-07 18:50|| 2008-08-07 18:50|| Front Page Top

#5 Seats may be harder to get and more expensive BUT, their on-time rate will be much better as they will not be stressing airport capacity quite so badly. And the aircrew shortage won't be quite so bad either.

No matter how the airlines whine, an airport can only handle so many aircraft as there is a minimum separation requirement between aircraft due to turbulence created by the aircraft. The bigger the aircraft the greater the spacing required. That's why airlines don't like (read hates) General Aviation as the smaller aircraft uses some of the capacity that the airline wants for it's own use.

Posted by tipover 2008-08-07 19:17|| 2008-08-07 19:17|| Front Page Top

#6 Flying today is just a miserable experience from the minute you get up to go to the airport to the minute you get to your actual destination. Rude, surly, uncaring staff, minimum-wage fascists.

That's exactly what I keep telling my husband!

Posted by Victory Osteen 2008-08-07 19:41|| 2008-08-07 19:41|| Front Page Top

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