I'd personally like to thank the U.S. Gov't & our Anti-trust Department

[BRT]

Nope. Nothing like that.

"That is, of course, until fuel costs go up and all the airlines hike their fares. So when the fuel costs go down they lower the fares, right? Dream on..."

Explain how if rates always go up with fuel prices rising and do not go down when fuel prices drop we could ever have rate decreases?

 

[mediumone]

Nevermind.

 

[ggunn]

"That is, of course, until fuel costs go up and all the airlines hike their fares. So when the fuel costs go down they lower the fares, right? Dream on..."

Explain how if rates always go up with fuel prices rising and do not go down when fuel prices drop we could ever have rate decreases?

It's not the only thing going on with air fares. But as mediumone says, fuel prices are hedged way into the future and the airlines are still paying for the bad deals they made when oil prices were high and expected to stay that way. That's good to hear; I'll be watching for those big drops in fares to happen and the baggage fees to go away when they get them paid off and start harvesting the low prices they can negotiate for at today's fuel prices.

 

[BRT]

They are in business and they are always going to maximize profits. I see ticket prices go up and down, but to Cancun in the last 20 years they have mostly gone down. Including the added baggage fees. Competition works.

 

[kixy1]

I'll be watching for those big drops in fares to happen and the baggage fees to go away when they get them paid off and start harvesting the low prices they can negotiate for at today's fuel prices.

I appreciate the sarcasm, but that was pretty good!

 

[Lorenzoid]

They are in business and they are always going to maximize profits. I see ticket prices go up and down, but to Cancun in the last 20 years they have mostly gone down. Including the added baggage fees. Competition works.

But with airline consolidation, there is less competition in some markets. Some airlines have near monopolies from some cities to some destinations. Take, oh, I dunno, Atlanta to Cozumel, for instance. The US could do more to increase competition, like allow foreign carriers to compete for domestic routes.

 

[BRT]

But with airline consolidation, there is less competition in some markets. Some airlines have near monopolies from some cities to some destinations. Take, oh, I dunno, Atlanta to Cozumel, for instance. The US could do more to increase competition, like allow foreign carriers to compete for domestic routes.

How do you get competition from Atlanta to Coz? I'm not against foreign carriers to compete. I'm the guy that believes in deregulation. But the effect would be to stop those who fly there now from flying there. There is no way to fill up very many airplanes from Atlanta to Coz so it costs twice as much to fly to Coz as Cancun.

We are going to Thunder Bay, ON for a reunion. We can fly into Thunder Bay from Seattle for twice as much as we can fly to the Twin Cities but it takes twice as long and we have decided to rent a car in MSP and drive to the reunion. We also fly to Cancun because it costs much less and takes less time and there are more flight options. I wonder what the flight options were for Coz before deregulation? Anybody know?

 

[Lorenzoid]

How do you get competition from Atlanta to Coz? I'm not against foreign carriers to compete. I'm the guy that believes in deregulation. But the effect would be to stop those who fly there now from flying there. There is no way to fill up very many airplanes from Atlanta to Coz so it costs twice as much to fly to Coz as Cancun.

I don't disagree about Cancun versus Coz. That's why we fly from Atlanta to Cancun. But supposing I were to fly from Atlanta to Coz, why does Delta charge me a couple of hundred dollars more for me to originate my Coz trip in Atlanta than Delta charged the guy sitting next to me on that same plane to Coz who connected through Atlanta on a Delta flight from some other city? Because Delta has monopoly-like control of some routes out of their Atlanta hub, that's why. I bet a low-cost carrier could eat Delta's lunch on that route if they could only have a fair shot at it. Delta keeps the competition out of Atlanta to whatever extent it can.

 

[BRT]

I don't disagree about Cancun versus Coz. That's why we fly from Atlanta to Cancun. But supposing I were to fly from Atlanta to Coz, why does Delta charge me a couple of hundred dollars more for me to originate my Coz trip in Atlanta than Delta charged the guy sitting next to me on that same plane to Coz who connected through Atlanta on a Delta flight from some other city? Because Delta has monopoly-like control of some routes out of their Atlanta hub, that's why. I bet a low-cost carrier could eat Delta's lunch on that route if they could only have a fair shot at it. Delta keeps the competition out of Atlanta to whatever extent it can.

How do they do that?

 

[ggunn]

How do they do that?

Well, for one thing, access to gates for airlines at airports is extremely expensive, and an airline that has a hub at a particular airport has a lot of clout there.