<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by anthonyanthony:
The airlines lose money on the cheapest airfares. They make up for the money-losing airfares with business travelers who buy their tickets at the last minute and pay the extremely high and profitable air fares.
With fewer travelers, the airlines don't want to dig their graves any deeper by continuing to offer the usual low money-losing airfares.
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No reason they can't discount full fare tix either! A $700 unrestricted transcon ticket just might bring back some business flyers. And any remaining restricted transcon seats could be sold for $100.
Look, $700 isn't as good as $2300, and $100 isn't as good as $400-500. But it's still a lot better than $0! You may still bleed pink, but at least you won't bleed red.
Furthermore, CO is in a better position than most airlines, having had 26 consecutive quarters of profitability. So a quarter of red ink might not be all that disastrous, if they at least keep the red ink to a minimum.
But then, it's a lot easier to just go begging at the Federal trough!