Originally Posted by
Javelin
I call BS on this. Within reason, the vast majority of the flying population will fly whatever is cheaper. The U.S. carriers are giving us exactly what we want—the lowest possible fares. The unions do degrade their competitiveness somewhat but such is life in the U.S.
EK, EY, QR?
They would wouldn't stand a chance if they became U.S.-centric.
They have become increasingly US-centric, and are increasing service to/from the US.
The relative Euro-centrism of sorts of North American and European legacy majors is increasingly being given a run for the money by the likes of EK/EY/QR because the latter have an improving/expanding route network for traffic connecting North America with LDCs in Africa and Asia and for traffic entirely between rapidly developing countries. Better serving more rapidly growing markets probably has consequences for the industry's historical leviathans and minnows on North America-Europe routes.
The US carriers have a history of higher prices from the US to parts of India than Air India and yet have had some trouble serving India despite passengers from the US willing to pay more to avoid perceived poorer service/product.