Originally Posted by
cs19
Please tell me you don't think the cost of IDBing folks on RJs would seriously make a difference between having service and no service. Between the planes, fuel, pilots, FAs, ground crew, airport fees, agents, and everything else, I can't imagine the IDB cost would sway any airline one way or the other. It's gotta be some fraction of some fraction of one percent of the actual cost to provide service to a given city.
You think AA, UA, CO, DL, or YX (all providing only RJ service) would seriously even consider pulling out of MSN solely for becoming subject to the IDB rules?
I don't mean to take you to task personally, DaDaDan, it just sounds like some talking point the airlines likely used when they lobbied congress (with their wallet) for this exception.
Well, certainly it makes some difference at the margin. The question is how much of a difference is it. Many flights make a surprisingly small amount of money (~$400 for the whole flight, for example). So a few IDBs really could eat that up. Though, I agree that it's unlikely to be the straw the breaks the camel's back either.
Another thing to think about is that <60 seat aircraft used to be
completely exempt from mandatory IDB compensation whether the IDB was due to an intentional oversale or weight and balance. When the DOT (not Congress) was considering expanding coverage to >30 seat aircraft, Delta (in fact) asked that they include the weight and balance exemption for the newly included RJs, which the DOT agreed to. (Aircraft substitution was already an exemption.)
In the end, I think that the exemption is fair. Smaller aircraft are more susceptable to weight and balance problems, and it's not clear why the airlines should have to pay a penalty in that situation. With larger aircraft, a much larger operating envelope is available such that the airline has enough strings to pull to get underweight often enough (e.g. off load some cargo, use a different aircraft) that they should be penalized for not doing so. I can't say that 60 seats is the magic number or that there isn't still potential for abuse, but it seems largely fair.