It's times like this when I wonder if unions are controlling the airlines....look what happened last summer to Air Canada, Northwest and then American. Not to mention, Air France (always), Alitalia and even dare I say, BA?

In Asia, we have our share of problems too. Cathay Pacific has one of the strongest unions in the Asia-Pacific region and so does Philippine Airlines (but then look at the state of its management). True, unions may be protecting their workers but in the end the fare paying passenger suffers.

Reminds of an incident about maybe 10 years or so ago when some pilots threatened a strike over at Singapore Airlines. The talk of strike loomed so much over the horizon that the then Prime Minister of Singapore stepped in and threatened to disband the entire company and then rehire new pilots altogether. Something he said which could be done overnight. No strike. No problems. No more complaints.