Airlines consider a once unthinkable possibility — halting US flights

[duece71]

yes but at least you all have other options... we dont...

I went through STL a few times and I think we are routing pax through there as it was "busy"... at least busier than anywhere else I went. HOU was also "busy" today... we had to wait for a gate which was utterly ridiculous... They keep preaching that we all need to operate the best we can to save money... well that means moving us to a different gate so we dont sit out and burn gas we dont need to... we arent inconveniencing a ton of passengers... only like 30 need to move from one gate to the next...

Or not having ground air working so we have to run the APU and burn gas...

Or asking to pull ground power 20 minutes prior to push time(our book says 5 minutes)... This happened several times on this last trip. Every time I opened my window and explained WHY we werent going to be doing that and we are in money saving mode which means no burning gas we dont need to burn...

I also say ATC needs to get their shit together. And im not talking about controllers getting sick...that sucks for all involved... but "no directs because of an LOA with the next center"..."gotta start you down early for a crossing because of an LOA with the next center"(they started us down from 400 to 300 almost 80 miles prior to our TOD)... They arent helping us save gas... Its the same ol, same ol with ATC... I get it when there are to many planes in the sky... but traffic is SEVERELY reduced... I think we can bend the rules for a while.

True, but operations in the greater airspace are still the same. If you have a delay, I will probably have the same delay unless I can get rerouted to a smaller airport in the same area. That is not an option all the time however. I have seen ATC hand us a decent 300-400 miles out from FL410 and above, Washington center always does this. ATC has its own priorities....separating high speed traffic in congested airspace takes a priority. Saving the airlines costs in terms of fuel savings or short cuts.....not a priority.

[Buncheong]

US airline companies have treated their paying customers with abject contempt, for decades.

Let them go bankrupt; they’re over-levered, horribly mismanaged, and not worth saving.

It’s past time for new blood in the industry.

[JediGuy]

US airline companies have treated their paying customers with abject contempt, for decades.

Let them go bankrupt; they’re over-levered, horribly mismanaged, and not worth saving.

It’s past time for new blood in the industry.

But we “can’t,” just like we couldn’t with banks and automakers and their employees who act the same way.

[rjacobs]

True, but operations in the greater airspace are still the same. If you have a delay, I will probably have the same delay unless I can get rerouted to a smaller airport in the same area. That is not an option all the time however. I have seen ATC hand us a decent 300-400 miles out from FL410 and above, Washington center always does this. ATC has its own priorities....separating high speed traffic in congested airspace takes a priority. Saving the airlines costs in terms of fuel savings or short cuts.....not a priority.

I dont disagree with you, but my point is ATC needs to, at least right now, start to prioritize things a bit differently. Air traffic is down like 50% or more... so things that were needed last week or the week before for traffic management are completely un-needed right now... As everybody keeps saying "we all need to work together" and if a controller would use a little common sense and call ahead, maybe we can all save a little fuel and possibly save the industry... I know fuel is cheap right now, but every penny counts.

[rjacobs]

US airline companies have treated their paying customers with abject contempt, for decades.

Let them go bankrupt; they’re over-levered, horribly mismanaged, and not worth saving.

It’s past time for new blood in the industry.

And the customers in a lot of cases are complete shit heads as well...

And im not saying to give the airlines a pass either because I have witnessed some things from the airline side of the house that made me angry...and I work for them...

And yes most airlines are WAY over leveraged... I heard how much debt AA has yesterday and I about fell out of my chair... I was like "what did their bankruptcy a few years ago accomplish" and "did they actually come out of bankruptcy with MORE debt?".

There aint no "new blood" to come into the airline industry I am afraid. Its not an industry for bean counters to run, although thats, for the most part, who is running it right now. There arent really any visionaries left... I would actually love to hear ideas from somebody like Elon Musk on ways to change the industry... And to start anything would costs billions of dollars of startup capital, which I am sure there are some investors dumb enough to do it, but its suicide.

[pinzgauer]

I'm a frequent traveler, and am at limits with the US carriers...

Tired of fees going up to "remain competitive", yet ticket prices staying about the same.

And if seating compresses further, its a no go... Long haul flights crossed that line for me already.

So I can fly Italy to Barcelona and back for $35-45 on discount airlines. Not much more to London and back. Done it more than once. Yep, full of fees. But so are the big carriers.

Not saying US airlines should become Easyjet... Just that as the flying experience on the premium airline approaches that of the discount airline, there is less reason to pay more. I'm sure there are intangibles, but also am a bit skeptical there is not that much difference and maintenance and airframe quality.

Then there are airlines like Norwegian, my new personal favorite. Comfortable, efficient, friendly, reasonable in cost. They strike a great balance.

I've seen Delta improve its customer experience a bit. For a brief bit I was forced to fly American and United for some common routes. (LCF, lowest common fare) That was an eye-opener. I hope they improved as the US needs competition.

[sandsunsurf]

US airline companies have treated their paying customers with abject contempt, for decades.

Let them go bankrupt; they’re over-levered, horribly mismanaged, and not worth saving.

It’s past time for new blood in the industry.

I don’t have feelings this extreme, but I will say that if our taxpayer dollars are going to bail out the airline industry, then I’m okay with some “conditions” coming with the money in the form of regulations.

I think it would be completely fair to require transparent fares, with standardized (and cheaper or none at all) baggage charges across the board. Minimum pitch requirements of 32” and 17” width economy seats (other than bulkhead or exit row with armrest trays). Better and simpler requirements for taking care of bumped travelers and delayed travelers regardless of “fault.” And probably some other things to make the customer feel like someone gives a crap about them..