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AA Cancels All Flights to Venezuela 15 Mar 2019

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AA Cancels All Flights to Venezuela 15 Mar 2019

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Old Mar 16, 2019, 8:49 pm
  #16  
 
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Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
AA doesn't want to lose any aircraft down there either.

It probably wasn't a very profitable route anyway and likely less so with all of the disruption.
You're looking at it backwards. Every seat on those flights was often full with people traveling FROM Caracas TO Miami and back--many bringing back the medicine they can't get there, or with an intended future (legal) move to the US. I'm very familiar with the situation as some of those unfortunate souls are my clients.
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Old Mar 17, 2019, 9:39 am
  #17  
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Originally Posted by Antarius
that was my feeling as well. Near 100% LF and prices over 1000 USD for a 3 hour flight.?
Doesn't sound exploitative at all.
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Old Mar 17, 2019, 10:57 am
  #18  
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Originally Posted by nk15
Doesn't sound exploitative at all.
since all airfare is 100% proportional to distance and has absolutely nothing to do with supply, demand or market conditions anywhere else in the world.

I guess the Monday morning MIA-CLT flight that costs me 600 bucks one way is exploitative too?

AA isnt a charity. If they can pack a plane at a grand a pop, clearly people are willing and capable of paying for it.
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Old Mar 17, 2019, 11:16 am
  #19  
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Originally Posted by Often1
The US has pulled the last of its embassy personnel. While the US has not been able to do much in Venezuela for a bit, it is now not able to do anything. AA cannot protect its employees or its aircraft..
There are several nations where the U.S. has no diplomatic presence and yet see flights and thousands of Americans every month. There are fixed U.S. investments, too - not the kind that can five away on ten minutes notice.

Antigua and Barbuda; Dominica; Grenada; St. Kitts and Nevis; St. Lucia; and St. Vincent and the Grenadines
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Old Mar 17, 2019, 11:55 am
  #20  
 
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Can you please explain?
Originally Posted by JonNYC
It was an *extremely* profitable route, right up until the end, that's why they ran it so long in spite of everything that was going on and all the challenges involved.
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Old Mar 17, 2019, 12:21 pm
  #21  
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Originally Posted by Antarius
since all airfare is 100% proportional to distance and has absolutely nothing to do with supply, demand or market conditions anywhere else in the world.

I guess the Monday morning MIA-CLT flight that costs me 600 bucks one way is exploitative too?

AA isnt a charity. If they can pack a plane at a grand a pop, clearly people are willing and capable of paying for it.
Given what is happening in that country, the humanitarian disaster, crisis and desperation, using the "supply and demand" or market conditions criteria to gouge fares is exploitative. People will sell their house to get the plane ride to get the medicine to save their child. This is not MIA-CLT. Let's say that we should be thankful that AA did not operate the last choppers out of Saigon...
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Old Mar 17, 2019, 12:59 pm
  #22  
 
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Originally Posted by 3Cforme
There are several nations where the U.S. has no diplomatic presence and yet see flights and thousands of Americans every month. There are fixed U.S. investments, too - not the kind that can five away on ten minutes notice.

Antigua and Barbuda; Dominica; Grenada; St. Kitts and Nevis; St. Lucia; and St. Vincent and the Grenadines
I don't think that's an apt comparison. None of those nations is in the dire straits that Venezuela is in, nor do they have Venezuela's type of government. Airlines would not worry about their crews overnighting in any of those places. There's no danger of US assets being seized, nor do those countries have currency restrictions that make it difficult for a foreign airline to operate there. (Yes. Grenada had a Marxist government 35 years ago.)
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Old Mar 17, 2019, 5:26 pm
  #23  
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Originally Posted by nk15
Given what is happening in that country, the humanitarian disaster, crisis and desperation, using the "supply and demand" or market conditions criteria to gouge fares is exploitative
So you do think AA is a charity?
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Old Mar 17, 2019, 6:58 pm
  #24  
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Originally Posted by CPRich
So you do think AA is a charity?
Going into a disaster area and exploiting human desperation by gouging prices is unethical business practice. Keeping fares reasonable/average, would be a middle of the road response and practice, reducing them would be charitable (like they briefly did in the latest Florida hurricane). But "extremely profitable route" sounds probably exploitative.
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Old Mar 17, 2019, 7:12 pm
  #25  
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Originally Posted by nk15
Given what is happening in that country, the humanitarian disaster, crisis and desperation, using the "supply and demand" or market conditions criteria to gouge fares is exploitative. People will sell their house to get the plane ride to get the medicine to save their child. This is not MIA-CLT. Let's say that we should be thankful that AA did not operate the last choppers out of Saigon...
AA is not a charity, nor did it prevent other carriers from flying there for less, if they had a desire to. With government in turmoil, AA was a risk in losing it's planes.
They were taking a bigger risk, so why shouldn't they get higher fares.
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Old Mar 17, 2019, 7:20 pm
  #26  
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Originally Posted by mvoight
AA is not a charity, nor did it prevent other carriers from flying there for less, if they had a desire to. With government in turmoil, AA was a risk in losing it's planes.
They were taking a bigger risk, so why shouldn't they get higher fares.
It depends on how much higher fares and how much profit are we talking about. Maybe a little bit more (=slight exploitation) but still providing a valuable service, it won't win them any "hero of the year" awards, but maybe acceptable. More than that, the ethics become more dubious.
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Old Mar 18, 2019, 12:11 pm
  #27  
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Originally Posted by taxatty56
You're looking at it backwards. Every seat on those flights was often full with people traveling FROM Caracas TO Miami and back--many bringing back the medicine they can't get there, or with an intended future (legal) move to the US. I'm very familiar with the situation as some of those unfortunate souls are my clients.
Were they selling those tickets ex-VZ in US dollars? Currency has been a huge issue for many companies doing business in VZ, but some have put up with it hoping things would normalize and they could get their cash out eventually, but this situation has just continued to deteriorate. So more and more have just been cutting their losses and leaving.
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Old Mar 18, 2019, 3:22 pm
  #28  
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Originally Posted by ijgordon

Were they selling those tickets ex-VZ in US dollars? Currency has been a huge issue for many companies doing business in VZ, but some have put up with it hoping things would normalize and they could get their cash out eventually, but this situation has just continued to deteriorate. So more and more have just been cutting their losses and leaving.
after 2014, AA and most other airlines started selling tickets in points of sale outside Venezuela. They wrote off the money trapped there as a sunk cost. There is no money stuck there anymore.
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Old Mar 18, 2019, 5:30 pm
  #29  
 
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Originally Posted by ijgordon

Were they selling those tickets ex-VZ in US dollars? Currency has been a huge issue for many companies doing business in VZ, but some have put up with it hoping things would normalize and they could get their cash out eventually, but this situation has just continued to deteriorate. So more and more have just been cutting their losses and leaving.
My "real world" understanding is ex-VZ US$ in the last few years, at least with all the people I deal with..
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Old Mar 18, 2019, 6:31 pm
  #30  
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BTW, Venezuela isn't the only country where international companies can't get their revenue or profits out. Russia has had blocked currency and McD copes partly by trying to purchase as much as possible (wheat, for example) from Russian companies.
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