767Lover From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Posted (9 years 7 months 2 weeks 4 days 23 hours ago) and read 2427 times:
In your opinion, what are some of the dumbest moves airlines have made in the recent past?
Here are a couple:
* Delta's recent executive pay/bonus debacle
* Delta adding a $2 charge to any ticket NOT purchased on their Web site (this was a couple of years ago, and it was soon rescinded after numerous complaints and bad publicity.)
DeltaGuy From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 1, posted (9 years 7 months 2 weeks 4 days 22 hours ago) and read 2223 times:
On the subject of Delta, as much as I love them, management needs to be removed/replaced.
Another stupid move they did, was park the MD-11's...baaaad move.
Second, furghlowing 250 pilots they were told NOT to do, by a mediator (in the ALPA-DL negotiations). This was after about 1130 other pilots were put on the street. My father was in this 250 group, that sat around thinking they wouldn't be hit, then when the Iraqi war happened, Leo used it as an excuse to kill more pilot's jobs...they've been ordered back, and hopefully will get some backpay Down with management!
767Lover From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 2, posted (9 years 7 months 2 weeks 4 days 22 hours ago) and read 2164 times:
Deltaguy:
Well, in my opinion (like it matters! ) an "industry" guy should be running the airline. Leo came from the utility business which is....a commodity...so that says something!
Jeffrey1970 From United States of America, joined Apr 2001, 1335 posts, RR: 13 Reply 3, posted (9 years 7 months 2 weeks 4 days 22 hours ago) and read 2150 times:
I think when United attempted to buy Usairways, that was a stupid move. They spent a lot of cash on that attempted buy out. Cash that they could use now. Plus, the Feds made it pretty obvious from the beginning that there was no way they were going to approve it.
May God bless you and everyone through Jesus Christ with lots of love,
Futureualpilot From United States of America, joined May 2000, 2561 posts, RR: 8 Reply 4, posted (9 years 7 months 2 weeks 4 days 21 hours ago) and read 2096 times:
Turning the airlines over to the bean-counters. Its the same with many sprts teams, forget the passengers and fans, how can we make more money?
PVD757 From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 3375 posts, RR: 18 Reply 5, posted (9 years 7 months 2 weeks 4 days 21 hours ago) and read 2057 times:
I personally think that Metrojet and all of the other discount fare attempts by the majors have been planned very poorly. Low cost means low cost, not low fare with the same labor costs. How dumb can we be?
Also, why was US Airways putting Metrojet on routes with no discount competition? They were flying out of LGA to Florida. "Alright everybody, let's lower the yield in the marketplace so we can make less money per passenger when we don't need to."
DoorsToManual From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 6, posted (9 years 7 months 2 weeks 4 days 21 hours ago) and read 2002 times:
Delta adding a $2 charge to any ticket NOT purchased on their Web site
Speaking from the point of view of a consumer, I don't mind this move & understand it. I don't think it's stupid; it encourages people to book flights on their website, which saves the company money. Besides, $2 is nothing...BA wacks on an extra £10/$16 to all tickets not booked online, and numerous other airlines offer discounts for tickets purchased on their website...BMI for instance, offers a £5/$8 discount per sector for flights booked on flybmi.com, their website.
It all depends on what spin the company puts on its booking policy. Delta could have simply stated "get a $2 discount on flights booked on delta.com"...
Ssides From United States of America, joined Feb 2001, 4059 posts, RR: 23 Reply 7, posted (9 years 7 months 2 weeks 4 days 21 hours ago) and read 1985 times:
I think a big part of the stupidity lies in the regulation of the industry, not necessarily with the airlines themselves. Granted, they've relied way too much on high-paying business travelers recently, but I think a large (and overlooked) obstacle to reforming the industry is the Railway Labor Act. This Act gives unions a disproportionate amount of bargaining power over the airlines. As such, it makes it difficult for airlines to change their practices. If this act were repealed, it would make it much easier for airlines to alter their cost structures and eventually make a decent profit.
PVD757 From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 3375 posts, RR: 18 Reply 8, posted (9 years 7 months 2 weeks 4 days 21 hours ago) and read 1973 times:
All airlines would love all of their tickets to be purchased online. Think of all of the res offices still out there. When I worked for AA a few years back, they started to pushed ticketless travel and even charged $25 if the passenger wanted a paper ticket when a ticketless was available. Over the past decade, airlines have had to integrate more technology into the way they operate. Just look at what jetBlue has done to control their costs of doing business. If you have ever read any background on what Neeleman has done, you would have to be impressed.
Airways6max From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 494 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (9 years 7 months 2 weeks 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 1848 times:
Basically, every merger that has happened in the last 20 years and the loss of choice for the flying public.
Some examples:
Continental's buyout of Frontier, New York and PEOPLExpress. That almost bankrupted Continental and eliminated some real choices from the skies.
Delta's purchase of Western Airlines. Again, loss of a tried-and-true airline name and less choice for the flying public. Delta could have expanded westward without buying Western if it wanted to.
American Airlines' purchase of Air Cal (1986) and then Reno Air (1999). AA does not fly to some of the destinations those airlines served. Wasn't the point of those mergers to give American a greater toe-hold on the West Coast?
Northwest's purchase of Republic Airlines. That merger almost bankrupted Northwest as it had overexpanded and again, eliminated another choice for the flying public.
A big one: USAir's absorption of PSA and then Piedmont. The point of the PSA merger was to give USAir a greater toehold on the West Coast. The result? US Airways is serving the same destinations in California, Oregon and Washington as it did before it gobbled up PSA. The merger with Piedmont was also a bad move, because it was saddled with an extensive network throughout the Southeast that it could not profitably operate. US Airways is in trouble today because it bought out Piedmont. Again, loss of choice for the flying public.
We all agree on this. Pan Am's absorption of National was a nail in Pan Am's coffin. Loss of competition and the fact that Pan Am no longer exists are the results of this trick.
TWA's absorption of Ozark. The point of this merger was to give TWA a greater domestic network. The result? TWA dropped a lot of routes it picked up from the Ozark merger and less choice for the customer.
Futureualpilot From United States of America, joined May 2000, 2561 posts, RR: 8 Reply 11, posted (9 years 7 months 2 weeks 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 1726 times:
How was Song stupid? Theyve already carried 1 million plus, and Delta seems to be un-hurt thuis far by the start-up. But it is still early, Im just wondering.
Jeffrey1970 From United States of America, joined Apr 2001, 1335 posts, RR: 13 Reply 12, posted (9 years 7 months 2 weeks 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 1700 times:
I think the majors might be kind of missing the point about Low Cost Carriers. It is not so much the low fares as it is the good customer service that people like. I know some people don't like airlines like Southwest and JetBlue, but if you look at the good reviews of airlines like that one of the main common denominators is that people felt that they were treated good.
767Lover From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 14, posted (9 years 7 months 2 weeks 4 days 18 hours ago) and read 1614 times:
D to M and PVD:
My issue with the $2 deal was more about how they handled it, not their desire to move ticketing online or drive people to the Web. I agree that the move to electronic was the right strategy (although where are all these "expense reductions" that were supposed to happen as a result?)
This was done around 1999-2000, and at that time consumers on the whole were still skeptical about purchasing things online (I know this through my consulting work with e-commerce firms.) Rather than encouraging people to buy tickets online with an offer to DISCOUNT the ticket $2 or credit pax with additional miles, Delta was positioning it as: we're going to sock you $2 for not purchasing online.
Bad PR move, and it came back to haunt them soon enough.
Tommy767 From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 6172 posts, RR: 9 Reply 16, posted (9 years 7 months 2 weeks 4 days 18 hours ago) and read 1536 times:
There is nothing I HATE more that LCC's with there "One way" fares! I HATE THAT SO MUCH! It makes the airline seem cheap on the commerical, but then you go into more detail and WHOP! there goes the price! To me, that makes the LCC's so bogus and why I feel you should ALWAYS look for the best fare on a major airline before making any quick decisions. This is why I will never (by choice) fly an LCC!
"Folks that's the news and I'm outta here!" -- Dennis Miller
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Down with management!
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