NotHamSarnie

The fact that the LCCs don't stay in business after the subsidies end supports this. However, the big 3 don't compete on routes at HSV, and seem happy with their market share unless the upstarts come in.

FlyDeltaJets87

This part of your post is incorrect. The problem is that there are no LCCs at HSV right now, but Southwest and JetBlue have plenty of GSA contract fares around the country, and if they choose to serve HSV again, would be eligible to compete for City-Pair Awards. I don't know if Spirit or Frontier or Virgin America have any, but government travel does occur on LCCs and is not restricted to the legacy carriers.

HongKonger

As a shareholder you should not want the waiver eliminated. DL makes a lot of money from Amex.

NotHamSarnie

We were really hoping WN would come here (they have not been here) when they took over AirTran (who also had a tax gifty after Allegiant left). Instead, AirTran just left. WN has the BHM and BNA market and HSV didn't seem attractive given its proximity to them. AFAIK neither Allegiant nor AirTran nor the 3rd LCC we had (I think it was more of a beach carrier) had any government contracts. Perhaps it was to make sure they didn't capture any that the big 3 undercut them on their routes to drive them away (probably at a loss).

Beckles

Are we complaining now that Delta is giving too much notice of changes?

As someone who maintains Medallion status for consecutive years (even if I do bop around between Silver - Gold - Platinum from year to year), I do not have any issue with this change, I am glad to see those who do not requalify taken off the Medallion rolls or lowered to their appropriate tier as soon as possible.

pbarnette

This is FT! Complaining is what it is for.

I'm not going to celebrate the news, but a) I don't think it is that big of a loss and b) everyone should have plenty of time to adjust their patterns at this point.

Beckles

This analysis ignores two factors:

1) If US airlines continue to make huge profits, the employee groups will demand their 'fair share', especially for the airlines that have reduced employee compensation in the last twelve years (i.e., all of them except Southwest). This will reduce airline profits and make them more vulnerable to the next economic shock (e.g., recession, oil price spike, drop in travel, etc.)

2) If the US airlines continue to make huge profits, the market will invariably attract new competition regardless of how high you believe the barriers to entry are.

Personally I believe many of you are over-estimating the difficulty of starting a new airline, there are aircraft leasors out there happy to give even marginal start-ups access to aircraft and a vast majority of commercial airports are not capacity constrained.

Beckles

In my experience AA's catering is not better than Delta's, but my experience is on short flights less than two hours (i.e., I bop around from MCI to points east through ORD or DFW). On AA I've received a single bag of snack mix in first class on a 90 minute flight, knock the snack basket all you want, but it is a huge improvement over that!

StayingHomeIsBetter

With a few exceptions (you note one... MQDs) this is standard Virginia Avenue modus operandi.

But, remember, loyalty is a two-way street (incredibly, I saw recently where they retread this sorry canard out on some new adveritsing).

pbarnette

I think you have unrealistic expectations for what sort of service to expect at HSV. The Big 3 fly to their hubs, which is what you would expect. DL isn't going to waste a slot to fly DCA-HSV just to compete on that particular route and UA isn't going to start flying HSV-ATL just to compete there.

The price one pays to live in a smaller community is often higher airfares and less frequent service. One hopes that this is offset by lower housing costs and perhaps quality of life benefits. For example, you have the best men's clothing store in the US only an hour's drive away.

RobertS975

Beckles, not complaining, just amazed that they have figured out that they will have the capability to cycle the medallions a month earlier than currently... even though it is over TWO years away!

The net sum of this is simple... there will be thousands of fewer medallions in the system competing for upgrades etc. in the month of Feb starting in 2016 than there currently are. January will still be a month bloated with extra medallions, but eventually, Feb will be as crowded as any other month f the year.

NotHamSarnie

You have piqued my curiosity... please share!


p.s. we used to have HSV-DCA non-stops until about 2010. They were on Barbie-jets but oh so convenient. Unfortunately they were often only 1/3 full. Only the airline with the govt contract will fly HSV-DCA.

pbarnette

http://www.billyreid.com/shops/list

The Florence outpost is the flagship and Billy lives there with his family. His annual Shindig is supposedly a great time.

P.S. They will often give you a glass of bourbon to sip while you shop.

rwoman

Yep...Several weeks ago.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...m-changes.html

javabytes

Agreed - Jan/Feb were rough with the full year's worth of new Medallions plus all the old ones not having dropped off yet.