Originally Posted by
gfunkdave
Because American carriers don't compete with foreign ones. Can you fly Singapore Airlines from Chicago to Seattle? Can you fly Emirates from Miami to Detroit?
On the routes that they do compete, US flyers have voted with their wallets: they'd rather pay for Y and upgrade with miles than pay for the "real" first class experience.
This is also a point.
Most of the foreign carriers, I'm afraid, are not state owned or partially state owned. That used to be the way it was 20 years ago. Today, most foreign carriers are privately owned. However, they seem to actually manage their airlines efficiently. By the way, the American carriers are all subsidized by the American government in one way or another. In addition, just about every foreign carrier I have traveled with over the last few years has flown at almost 100% capacity. So, there are an awful lot of Americans that are flying these planes. I also don't see many foreign airlines going bankrupt like most of the US carriers have.