Fear is certainly the major factor ... but as Sept. 11 recedes, there's an opportunity to at least chip away at that fear.
Cutting out meal service, denying beverages, talking of banning carry-ons or doing away with pre-assigned seating --- NONE of that will help at all. Quite the opposite, that's going to be a disincentive to some of the folks who are at least giving
airlines a 40 percent load factor ... and to the marginal folks who might be drawn back in the next few weeks, the ones who could bump load factors to perhaps 60 percent.
No airline is going to turn this situation around in a few weeks, but the way to start is NOT by adding extra inconvenience and service cutbacks to save a couple of bucks. In Leo's jargon at DL, that's simply not good business.