Originally Posted by
airmotive
Airlines have a monopoly? I can rattle off ten major airlines in the US alone. With a little effort, I could probably come up with another twenty small independent airlines. It's one of the - if not THE - most competitive industries in the world.
20-30 businesses does not constitute competition when you're talking on a global scale. I'm sorry, but the airline industry IS pretty much an effective monopoly with less than 100 big players and in some cases 1-2 choices for a given route.
It may be one of the most "competitive" industries in the world but that doesn't mean much if the rest of the industries are also effective monopolies.
For some reason you seem fixated on the idea that I think only the rich should fly, the reality is that they're adding more and more fees and bogus charges in order to make it so that eventually only the rich will be able to fly.
I'm all for a business being able to charge whatever they want for a product, but at the same time we have the right to call bs when they start implementing fees such as letting you use the bathroom or checking luggage that was previously part of your fare.
Accounting for fuel cost increases, inflation, and difficulties in the market is one thing, tacking on fees left and right to pocket a ton of cash is another thing.
Again, Do you guys really think the airlines will institute additional "add-ons" and will actually lower the base fares? They're looking for supplemental revenue streams, not replacement revenue streams.
Yes, they got IdeaWorks to do it.
Pretty much this, the idea that it's somehow simple to dig through piles of data to create a report and that it shouldn't cost "millions" to do a report ignores how complex digging through the data is. Consulting firms exist for a reason, if they could sift through the data cheaper they would.
Edited for additional reading:
http://talkingunion.wordpress.com/20...-of-the-skies/
When Congress deregulated airlines in 1978, the central premise was to expand competition, to offer consumers more choices and to lower prices. On all accounts, these have been exposed as complete myths and distortions. Today, thirty years after the deregulation of airlines, there is a virtual monopoly in the skies and steadily increasing fares.