Interesting observation by Time Magazine about Delta
Jan 17, 2010, 8:14 pm
#1
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Interesting observation by Time Magazine about Delta
In an article about baggage fees, Time Magazine wrote about Delta:
http://www.time.com/time/business/ar...953324,00.html
That really struck me as true. Delta, not too long ago, was a model of civility in the industry. I'm not a Delta-basher by any means, but I do think it's unfortunate what has happened to many of the policies of the Delta of years past.
Delta, which was once the model of civility in this industry, has lately made noises about regaining some of that lost élan, but antagonizing your passengers doesn't seem like the way to do it.
That really struck me as true. Delta, not too long ago, was a model of civility in the industry. I'm not a Delta-basher by any means, but I do think it's unfortunate what has happened to many of the policies of the Delta of years past.
Jan 17, 2010, 8:32 pm
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Jan 17, 2010, 8:43 pm
#3
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It was not deregulation itself that cost DL its "civility". The turning point was the ill conceived purchase of Pan Am. Huge losses, followed by cutbacks, were the result. DL used to be my airline of choice for domestic service in the 80's, even though I had no status with them. But they became downright unpleasant after the early 90's.
Jan 17, 2010, 8:46 pm
#4
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It was not deregulation itself that cost DL its "civility". The turning point was the ill conceived purchase of Pan Am. Huge losses, followed by cutbacks, were the result. DL used to be my airline of choice for domestic service in the 80's, even though I had no status with them. But they became downright unpleasant after the early 90's.
Jan 18, 2010, 12:17 pm
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Jan 18, 2010, 12:22 pm
#7
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It was not deregulation itself that cost DL its "civility". The turning point was the ill conceived purchase of Pan Am. Huge losses, followed by cutbacks, were the result. DL used to be my airline of choice for domestic service in the 80's, even though I had no status with them. But they became downright unpleasant after the early 90's.
From the Pan Am Wiki:
"Since the 1930s, Juan Trippe coveted domestic routes for Pan Am, and throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s the airline attempted to merge with American Airlines, Eastern Airlines, and Trans World Airlines.[citation needed]The airline was repeatedly denied permission from the Civil Aeronautics Board to operate within the United States, and Pan Am remained as an American carrier operating international routes only. When the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 became law, it contained two clauses. "Clause A" allowed domestic carriers to begin operating on international routes while "Clause B" allowed Pan Am to operate domestically.[citation needed] Only "Clause A" was put into effect as the other airlines convinced Congress that Pan Am would monopolize all U.S. air routes, though the last time Pan Am was permitted to merge with another airline was in 1950 when Pan Am was permitted to purchase American Overseas Airlines from American Airlines.[citation needed] As a result, U.S. domestic airlines began competing with Pan Am internationally."
Jan 18, 2010, 2:44 pm
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It was not deregulation itself that cost DL its "civility". The turning point was the ill conceived purchase of Pan Am. Huge losses, followed by cutbacks, were the result. DL used to be my airline of choice for domestic service in the 80's, even though I had no status with them. But they became downright unpleasant after the early 90's.
Jan 18, 2010, 3:15 pm
#9
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Can you say that Pan Am was not a victim of deregulation?
From the Pan Am Wiki:
"Since the 1930s, Juan Trippe coveted domestic routes for Pan Am, and throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s the airline attempted to merge with American Airlines, Eastern Airlines, and Trans World Airlines.[citation needed]The airline was repeatedly denied permission from the Civil Aeronautics Board to operate within the United States, and Pan Am remained as an American carrier operating international routes only. When the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 became law, it contained two clauses. "Clause A" allowed domestic carriers to begin operating on international routes while "Clause B" allowed Pan Am to operate domestically.[citation needed] Only "Clause A" was put into effect as the other airlines convinced Congress that Pan Am would monopolize all U.S. air routes, though the last time Pan Am was permitted to merge with another airline was in 1950 when Pan Am was permitted to purchase American Overseas Airlines from American Airlines.[citation needed] As a result, U.S. domestic airlines began competing with Pan Am internationally."
From the Pan Am Wiki:
"Since the 1930s, Juan Trippe coveted domestic routes for Pan Am, and throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s the airline attempted to merge with American Airlines, Eastern Airlines, and Trans World Airlines.[citation needed]The airline was repeatedly denied permission from the Civil Aeronautics Board to operate within the United States, and Pan Am remained as an American carrier operating international routes only. When the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 became law, it contained two clauses. "Clause A" allowed domestic carriers to begin operating on international routes while "Clause B" allowed Pan Am to operate domestically.[citation needed] Only "Clause A" was put into effect as the other airlines convinced Congress that Pan Am would monopolize all U.S. air routes, though the last time Pan Am was permitted to merge with another airline was in 1950 when Pan Am was permitted to purchase American Overseas Airlines from American Airlines.[citation needed] As a result, U.S. domestic airlines began competing with Pan Am internationally."
Pan Am was a victim of airline deregulation, because it could never create a strong enough domestic network to feed its international flights, which were starting to struggle under increased competition.
Jan 19, 2010, 3:16 am
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Pan Am Domestic Flights
Pan Am was the survivor in a merger with National Airlines ("we fly coast to coast to coast") circa 1982. This actually made Pan Am a competitor with Delta and Eastern on a number of city pairs northeast to Florida and the gulf coast.
Pan Am and National had some nasty labor relations matters--I remember flying them DCA-PBI in 1983, on a 727, where we met Roger, who had been a captain on Pan Am, but, after the merger, was the flight engineer (that is, the 3rd man), with two ex-National guys in the front two seats. Roger ended up sitting in the back of coach talking to a friend (and to my wife and me), going back up to the front only when we got within 100 miles of PBI.
Later in the 1980s, when Frank Lorenzo had to give up the New York Air Shuttle when he was consolidating New York Air, People Express, Continental, the original Frontier and Eastern (I think Texas International was gone by then), Pan Am ended up with the NYA Shuttle, which is how DL ended up with it (after Eastern folded, US Scare ended up with what was once the Eastern Shuttle, then the Trump Shuttle)
When DL bought out Pan Am, they got the domestic system and Pan Am's TATL network except for London, which they had previously sold to United along with their TPAC network.
Pan Am and National had some nasty labor relations matters--I remember flying them DCA-PBI in 1983, on a 727, where we met Roger, who had been a captain on Pan Am, but, after the merger, was the flight engineer (that is, the 3rd man), with two ex-National guys in the front two seats. Roger ended up sitting in the back of coach talking to a friend (and to my wife and me), going back up to the front only when we got within 100 miles of PBI.
Later in the 1980s, when Frank Lorenzo had to give up the New York Air Shuttle when he was consolidating New York Air, People Express, Continental, the original Frontier and Eastern (I think Texas International was gone by then), Pan Am ended up with the NYA Shuttle, which is how DL ended up with it (after Eastern folded, US Scare ended up with what was once the Eastern Shuttle, then the Trump Shuttle)
When DL bought out Pan Am, they got the domestic system and Pan Am's TATL network except for London, which they had previously sold to United along with their TPAC network.
Jan 19, 2010, 6:52 am
#11
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I think it's irrelevant that I don't have to pay them. The simple fact they're willing to be the lead dog on the issue says volumes about their view of customer service.
Jan 19, 2010, 7:57 am
#12
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The feeling I get from Delta is more of the "we're the biggest now, so people HAVE to fly with us no matter what" attitude. The sad part is, in my case at least it's true as long as I want my commute to take 2.5 hours instead of 5 or 6.
Jan 19, 2010, 8:24 am
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PAN AM
The constant resistance of the regulating agencies at the time prevented PANAM from establishing any meaningful domestic network to feed their International traffic and eventually resulted in the ill fated National acquisition. The U.S. Government was not willing to put it's support behind one or two National carriers as other countries did and at that time had opened International flights to everyone. While before PA and TW were about the only and dominant U.S. carriers serving Europe, all of a sudden one could see Eastern, Piedmont, TWA, Braniff, Continental, Western, National, Northwest, Air Florida, People Express as well as World Airways, Capital and Transamerica amongst others at the gates in LHR ( I can't remember AA, DL and UA were in the mix then ). This effectively cut off the lifeline to the airline which had its major operations concentrated at JFK. Combine this with an inept management team and disaster was imminent.
Jan 19, 2010, 11:05 am
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Right on. I remember telling FA's, GA's back in the late 90's that DL was on a course to bankruptcy..."no way that could EVER happen to our Delta" was the average response.
BUT, Delta does have a plan: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da...584/ex99-1.htm
Hopefully history will not repeat itself.
Jan 19, 2010, 11:14 am
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