Originally Posted by
tuolumne
A cute line that may sell well on FT, but isn't indicitive of reality. Have you ever flown in United's 3 cabin F yourself? You sure seem to have strong opinions about it.
My only opinion is that the combined number of F an C seats is a small percentage of total seats; therefore, any changes to the number of cabins effects only a small percentage of passengers.
Originally Posted by
tuolumne
So in other words you completely discount that pmCO had a 'dirth' of widebody aircraft over the last decade? (I.e. engaged in expansion that was outpaced by the appropriate aircraft availability). You'd be wrong in that regard - the w/b shortage issues have been a glaring issue to both outside industry observers and the management team themselves. They stretched themselves too thin, and compounded by the 787 delays and misguided 762 purchases, had to throw the undersized equipment they did had (752) on routes that could clearly, clearly, support larger equipment. The fairy tale story CO sold about how great the 752s are is a bunch of garbage.
I do not completly discount that CO had a dearth of WBs, but perhaps you think it was foolish to purchase them in the first place, ignoring that many routes simply wouldn't be served without them. You seem to suggest that future growth as a reason that the should not have been purchased in the first place. Should CO have gone to market after purchasing the 752s to get more planes? Yes, and they did. What they should have done would have been to secure a few WBs immediately by leasing from other airlines until new birds arrived from Boeing. (I also think UA should do this today -- or bring some back from VCV, MHV, and GYR.) But even if CO did get a few extra birds to supplement the fleet (or if UA were to do so today), that doesn't mean that they should stop flying the 752s.